Vs The Akatsuki
by ShadowBlueShane
Summary: People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define 'Reality'". "What gives you the right to destroy the "Reality" others worked hard to create?" Rated T 'cause of Hidan. May change later. Chapter 11 is up guys!
1. Vaskar

(AN: Hey guys! This is my first Naruto fic, so please be nice and be sure to tell me what you think when you're done. I admit it does start out a bit crappy, but I have a couple of ideas, and they are pretty cool. So I decided to share my ideas with the world, and… here we are. To tell you the truth I actually posted this a couple of days ago but I found a couple of problems in it, so I scrapped it and started again. In other words… this chappy was re-written.

By the way, if you want to submit you OC into my story then just put them into your review using the guide at the **bottom**. I intend to use only about **6** but don't worry; I may use the remainder of them as side characters or something. Anyway, I'm rambling now so I'll let you get on with the first chapter, just try to enjoy yourselves, okay?)

Warning: May contain foul language (Hidan), bloody themes (Hidan) and jutsu of mass dysfunction. Lol.

Disclaimer: I do not own **anyone** from the main cast of Naruto characters. I own the story and my OC's; Vaskar, Genos and Shane. That's it! Other OC's belong to their respective owners.

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"So now you have to go and be lookout for the Hokage?" My spiky blonde haired team mate, Genos, asked me as we walked to Konoha's main gates.

"Yeah, that's what I was told." I replied calmly with a smile on my face, trying to cover up my disappointment. I was really hoping to do a mission with my two team mates today, but Lady Tsunade forced me into this.

"Why you?" This question was asked by the cyan haired boy on the other side of me. Shane's his name. And as usual, he doesn't say much.

"I don't remember" I shrugged. We drifted off into a comfortable silence which lasted about ten seconds until we came across the edge of the village, the gates. I turned to face my two friends for a few seconds before waving a "bye" to them both.

"See you guys later. If I'm not back in the afternoon then I'll be back tomorrow." They both nodded to me, with Genos waving back then they both turned around and walked back the way we came.

I turned myself around then walked along the dirt path for a bit. I took a sharp turn into the forest, and stared at my surroundings with mild interest. The clouds lazily drifted across the clear blue sky as the sun released a warm glow onto the world below. A slight breeze billowed through the forest green, picking up a variety of flower petals and taking them up to the branches of trees as if to give the illusion of the autumn season.

I like the wind.

The wind is so carefree, relaxing and calm; I wish I was like that. Just thinking about the wind and being able to feel it all around me just makes me feel happy. Why is the element of wind my favorite? Well, I guess it does have something to do with the fact that we need to breathe it in to survive, but I really like the feel of it flowing through my hair…

Oops, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? Sorry.

My name is Vaskar and I'm a 10 year old Genin. I have spiky, white hair and strange black eyes with barely noticeable bags under them. I like to wear my favorite white coat which has a large collar, grey trousers and grey shoes. I usually wear my Konoha headband around my upper left arm. Other than those details, there isn't anything interesting about me… well, the permanent bags under my eyes are but that's besides the point.

The point is that I was forced to do a completely boring job and I had no say. It's not fair!

_A Genin stood in the Hokage office, listening and occasionally nodding his head as Lady Tsunade gave him instructions for the day. _

"_-to let me know if there is anyone that looks suspicious. Do you understand, Vaskar?" Tsunade asked, pressing her fingertips together._

_Vaskar nodded his head with an __'__Uh huh__'__ before asking, "Why do I have to do this?" _

'_Because no one else will.__'__ The blond haired woman smiled softly as she instantly thought of a believable reason to get him to do this for her, "Because Vaskar, no one else could possibly handle this job better than you could."_

_When the boy heard that excuse, a huge grin threatened to throw his head off balance as he gave her a look that crossed between both being happy and being determined. "I won__'__t let you down!" He quickly turned around and dashed out the door._

Okay, maybe I wasn't forced into it… but that's beside the point! I'm a Genin; I should be with my team mates doing crappy D-rank missions. Not here being lookout for a ninja that probably won't even appear. _But why me though? And why couldn__'__t one of the other more famous Genin groups do it? _

See, the Hokage got told by a Chunin that an unknown shinobi was seen lurking around just outside of Konoha. So naturally, the Hokage sent a couple of us ninja to be lookout just in case, me included. But I really don't see the point of this. That Chunin must be a liar or must be looking for attention 'cause I haven't found any signs of rogue ninja activity, and I've been looking for awhile now. _Whatever, I can probably get some training done._

I carried on walking, passing various trees before coming to a small clearing in the forest. Huh… How far away from Konoha am I? And when am I allowed to stop being a lookout, anyway?

"Wind style: Air bullet!" I exclaimed as I formed 5 simple hand signs and forcefully blew out a bubble of compressed air at a tree. The bubble completely missed and hit a bird on a tree branch, instantly knocking it through another tree branch, killing it. _Oops. _That wasn't meant to happen.

I laughed nervously as I formed 8 hand signs this time. "Wind style: Devastation!" I shouted, a huge arrow-headed gust of wind came directly from me and knocked a couple of trees over with the sheer force alone. _Why is my stronger jutsu easier to control than my weaker one? _

"Argh, damn it!" An unfamiliar voice shrieked. _What the heck? Is someone else out here with me?_

I ran in the direction of the noise and came across a person sprawled on the ground, rubbing their head. The person stood up with their back facing me.

"Who are you?" I asked, unconsciously clenching my fists. This person looked fairly strong, so if a fight was gonna happen between us, I needed to be ready for whatever.

The person turned around…

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It gets better, don't worry. I have to start somewhere… Anyway, if you have any comments on how I can improve or any mistakes I've made, please let me know. If you wanna submit an OC use the guide below, and answer as thoroughly as possible. And remember, I'm only using 6 main OC's; others will probably be side characters. Later.

P.S. I may change minor details on you characters to suit the storyline… Yes, there's a plot, sheesh! Oh, and if you wanna create your own jutsu, that's fine with me. *Sigh's* I'm finally done.

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Personality:

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Rank: (Genin, Chunin, etc.)

Element affinity:

Clan (if any):

Bloodline Limit (if any):

Jutsu:

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	2. Riku

(A/N:Hey peeps! I finished the second chapter early. Mostly 'cause it decided to snow two days in a row! Don't see that everyday, do ya? Anyway this chapter is okay by my standards but it would be a lot better with your OC's. Don't you think!

Anyway, to go onto chapter three, I need **two** more OC's from you guys. Don't be shy, this story is for everyone, I'm trying to develop my skills along the way. For instance, the next chapter will either be someone else's POV or it will be a third person thing. Anyway, enjoy!)

Special thanx to Hidan's Little Riku for reviewing. Your awesome!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar and the story, Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

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I ran in the direction of the noise and came across a person sprawled on the ground, rubbing their head. The person stood up with their back facing me.

"Who are you?" I asked, unconsciously clenching my fists. This person looked fairly strong, so if a fight was gonna happen between us, I needed to be ready for whatever.

The person turned around revealing themselves to be a girl with black eyes and long lavender hair which reached her ankles. She wore a short black shirt with netted sleeves and was netted from the middle-down, black shorts that stopped around the middle of her thighs, and the weirdest thing about her was the black cloak with funny red clouds all around it.

The girl gave me an aggravated, dull look. _Someone's a bit moody, huh? _She grabbed a kunai from the pouch around her arm and aimed it threateningly at me. She must be trying to scare me off. _Huh, not likely._

"That's none of your business, kid. Go back to where you came from." _Kid!? I don't even look that much younger than her. _I shook my head and pointed straight at her.

"Sorry, but it's part of my job right now to report ninja outside the village to the Hokage. So, either you tell me who you are and what you're doing here, or I rat you out to the Hokage and get you tracked by ANBU." The girl's eyes widened slightly from surprise but she didn't seem too freaked out. I must have put a damper in her plans, or something.

She still held the kunai in my direction but it wasn't as threatening as before. "I'm a Konoha shinobi as well, so reporting me would be useless, and besides I'm looking for a couple of people on behalf of our village." Oh, I didn't know that. But if she's who she says she is, then how comes I've never seen her before? Something doesn't seem right about her.

"I'm a tracker ninja. I've been tracking a couple of dangerous ninja for awhile now and I came back to have a word with the Hokage."

I blinked at her, "Oh, so who are you tracking?" She rolled her eyes at me and let her hand drop limply to her side.

"That has nothing to do with you, kid. Anyway, now that I've seen the Hokage, I'm gone." She swiftly tuned around and began to walk away. Nothing to do with me, I thought my job was to find out about anything suspicious. _I should keep my eye on her, just to make sure that she's doing what she says she is._

Cool, an adventure. _That sounded so cheesy. _

The girl had actually gotten a good distance away from me, so I ran to catch up to her. "Why are you following me?" She asked, not even bothering to look at me as I fell into stride with her.

"I dunno, I just figured I could help. I'm Vaskar by the way." I held out my hand for her but she ignored it.

She stopped walking and turned to me with an "Okay, Vaskar, what gives you the idea that I need help?" She must really not want me around. _Make up something, quick! _

"Well, usually tracker ninja travel in groups of three or more so in a fight, you'd probably be outmatched. That's where I come in, my element affinity is wind which is kinda rare if you didn't guess, and I have a couple of original jutsu that can help us out in tight scrapes." Should I mention that I'm completely crappy in both Taijutsu and Genjutsu? _No way._

The girl ran a hand through her ankle long hair but stretched out her other hand towards me with a grin. "Nice to meet you Vaskar, I'm Riku." I grinned back at her and gripped her hand in a firm handshake.

"So, are you going to tell me about who we're tracking?" Riku sighed but nodded nonetheless. She started walking in the same direction as before but at a much slower pace and gestured for me to follow. I rushed to catch up and listened to as much as I could without risking brain damage.

"-they're mostly known to go after ninja with tailed beasts inside them. We don't really know why though," She explained. "They're all S-class criminals and they go by the name, Akatsuki. A rumor is going around that they are looking for an extra member. "

"Right. So what's the real reason you came to Konoha then?" I questioned, looking straight at her. She looked a bit uncomfortable for a second but that was quickly swept away as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"They have someone important to me with them. I want to find them and get that person back. Another rumor is that there is something valuable within these walls. And they will stop at nothing to get it, so-"

"-So if we find whatever it is before them, we can use it to get to your important person!" I finished for her smiling widely.

She smiled widely as well, "I think you and me will get along just fine, kid." I paused realizing what she just said and flushed red with rage.

"My name is VASKAR!" I shouted and growled out. She was so taken aback by that, that she started cracking up. What's so funny about me stating my name? I want revenge. I began to form a couple of hand signs… "Wind style…"

She was laughing so hard she didn't hear me or see me forming the hand signs.

"_Devastation!" _I poured about 1/5 of my chakra into that one so I wasn't surprised to hear her shriek in surprise and in aggravation as the jutsu pushed her away from me and squashed her against a tree. When the jutsu stopped, I walked over in the direction she was blown away in and found her sprawled on top of a fallen tree, hair and clothes in a complete mess. I started laughing once she stood up and started cleaning herself.

"Damn, brat!" She growled at me. When I looked at her, I could of sworn I saw fire in her angry eyes. She started forming a long string of hand signs, which made me start running. I didn't get far though when she shouted out;

"_Earth style: Underworld Palace!" _

The earth around me started changing… morphing… growing.

I tried to move but found my feet bound by the ground. The earth grew over my head and I couldn't see anything until thin lines of light began appearing in front of me. The earth finally stopped moving.

Riku suddenly appeared in front of me, grinning widely. "Payback!"

"Okay then, you caught me. Now let me out already!" I whined, trying to move my hands for emphasis but found them stuck too.

"No way, I'm not done yet," She crouched down on the ground, and started forming more hand signs. "Earth style-"

"Look! There's one!" Someone exclaimed. I heard two pairs of footsteps getting closer at a very fast speed. "And she's got someone prisoner!" Apparently Riku lost focus on her jutsu and chakra because the earth around me turned to mud and melted until it was all gone. I stood up and brushed myself off and looked in the same direction as Riku to see two shinobi running towards us.

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(A/N: Excellent! I can feel both Riku and Vaskar's character developing. I'm such a genius, lol. Anyway, like I said at the top, I can't do the next chapter without **two** new OC's so put them in your reviews and be sure to tell me what you think! The guide for OC's is at the bottom of the first chapter.

P.S. Write the descriptions of your original jutsu next to or below each jutsu. Okay, see you next chapter!)


	3. Koto & Shiro

(A/N: Hey there people. I tried really hard on this one so I hope you like it. This chapter, unlike the other two, is in 3rd person because, like I said before, I'm experimenting with different styles to see which one fit me best. I personally think that this chapter is the best so far but my opinion is biased so let me know what you think, okay? And if your one of the few, who put an OC in here, then tell me what you like/dislike about how I've portrayed your characters. If I did crappy, let me know how I could make them better.

Oh and just so you know. I accidentally slipped in and out of Shiro's POV but I controlled myself pretty about that though. By the way, the OC's that didn't appear in this chapter may appear in the next so stay tuned.)

Anyway, without further ado, I leave you with the newest chapter. Later.

Thank you for reviewing; RuTakasheryuu, Sauru Tsukiyumi Sanbi's Faeble, Jesus Brother Bob, and Tsubaki Takara. You guys are awesome!

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar and the story, Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to ****Sanbi's Faeble and Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu****. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

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The village hidden in the leaves was bustling with vibrant energy early that morning. As a group of ninja entered the village from a mission well done, another group was getting ready to set out. Children ran around freely as their parents sat nearby, keeping watchful eyes on their offspring. And local vendors were successfully selling their merchandise to cheerful customers.

Two girls were sat near a window in an early morning café. The older of the two was just staring at her tea whilst the younger girl drank her soda.

The older girl had aqua blue eyes, and pale blue hair tied into a ponytail. Looped braids rested on the sides of her head, hanging with tassels. She wore a white dress which was shortened to stop at her thighs, sleeves which reached halfway down her arms. Black spandex shorts under her dress and knee high boots. Her nails were painted an electric blue.

The younger girl had cat-like green eyes, shoulder-long black hair tied into a ponytail with a green ribbon and a scar which runs from her cheek down to her jaw. She wore a short sleeved green shirt with gold trimmings around the collar and black chinese facets in place of the buttons. Simple black shorts adorned her legs up to her knees and the usual shinobi sandals were on her feet.

After another mouthful, the younger girl placed the cup back onto the table between them and gave her friend a reproachful look.

"You need to forget about him y'know?"

The blue haired girl looked up from her tea and gave a half-hearted smile. "I don't think I can, Koto. I don't believe he would do something like this. He wouldn't. I know it."

Koto rolled her eyes, brushing a stray strand of black hair out of her eyes. "Shiro, if he's willing to kill off his entire clan, then he can't be the person you thought he was…" She grinned, showing her sharp canines, "And y'know what? I'm starting to think he's got the right idea."

"Koto!" Shiro exclaimed. She sighed, putting her hand up and getting a nearby waiter's attention. "Fine, answer me this. If you had a friend you really liked and have known for, say… 5 years, and you found out that they were apart of a clan. What would you do?"

The waiter came back and cleared the girls table before leaving a piece of paper with the bill scratched onto it. Koto crossed her arms over her chest with a 'tch' and took a quick look out the window. Without even looking at her friend she replied, "Kick their sorry arse for not telling me, then throw them through the Hokage's window." She turned to Shiro and gave her a cold look, "Is that all?"

Shiro shook her head. _Sometimes I get the feeling she already knows. _She placed a few bills on the table and stood up, with Koto in tow. With a muttered 'thanks' to the waiters, they left the café and began walking down the street in silence towards the Konoha gates.

"So what are we doing now then?" Koto asked, after a few minutes of silence. "Are we gonna continue looking for the Uchiha to get him to explain? Or are we gonna look for the stalker of a shinobi outside Konoha?"

Shiro stopped for a second, arms crossed in thought. A second later she gave her patient friend a determined look. "We'll deal with the problem outside Konoha first, then we'll search for Itachi and the Akatsuki." The dark haired girl besides her nodded in approval.

Koto looked around and spotted a girl with long purple hair and an Akatsuki cloak. "Look! There's one!"

The blue haired girl looked at her friend, "One what?"

"An Akatsuki member!" Koto shrieked, running towards the girl. The purple haired girl looked at the two just as Shiro spotted a boy with white, spiky hair trapped in a palace of earth. "And she's got someone prisoner!"

"It's a kid! We have to help him!" Shouted Shiro, sprinting after the black haired girl. The purple-haired stranger in the Akatsuki cloak released her hold on the earth jutsu and turned to the approaching girls. The white haired boy stood up and also looked in their direction as he brushed himself off. Shiro and Koto stopped side-by-side and stared at the other two.

Shiro spoke first, voice calm as she stared at the girl in the Akatsuki cloak. "Who are you?"

Both the girl and the boy glanced at each other confused, but a smirk slowly broke out across her face as she looked back. "What's it to you?"

Koto took an aggressive step forwards, "Just answer the question! And don't speak to my friend like that!"

The girl scowled, "Riku. What do you want? We're busy."

Shiro turned to the boy next to Riku and asked him for his name in a softer tone. The boy looked at Riku then looked back at Shiro and answered, "Vaskar. Who're you?"

"I'm Shiro and this is my best friend Koto." Shiro took a step towards the girl and boy whilst giving Koto a look that said 'Something might happen, be ready'. She looked directly at Riku. "Do you know where Itachi Uchiha is?"

Once again, Riku looked genuinely confused. Then she looked at her cloak and started cracking up. Koto turned red in the face with anger and stomped closer to the two. "What's so funny?"

Riku laughed louder, Vaskar raised his eyebrow at her but a small smile could be seen on his lips.

"You are!"

Koto shrieked in anger and dashed towards the two. Both Shiro and Vaskar stared in shock as Koto reached Riku and tackled her. The two girls crashed to the floor, punching and kicking wildly as they tried to cause the other as much pain as possible.

"Koto!" Shiro cried.

"Riku! " Vaskar screamed. He jumped back a bit and started to form the familiar hand signs. "Wind Style-"

"_Spirit Surge!" _A couple of spirits flew towards the boy. The boy's eyes widened in alarm but there was nothing he could do to defend himself.

"_Fire Style: Flaming whip jutsu!" _A whip created solely out of fire flew back and forth wildly, tearing at the spirits. Eventually all the spirits vanished.

Riku jumped over to Vaskar, and placed a hand on his shoulder in a wordless 'Don't lower your guard'. Koto walked back to Shiro's side and they both looked at each other, silently agreeing on something.

"_Phantom Art: Essence shot!"_

"_Fire Style: Flaming rose!" _

Hundreds of flaming roses flew through the air towards Shiro and Koto but they were soon joined by hundreds of balls made of spirit energy.

"_Soul light!"_

"_Ribbon shadow replication!" _

Will-o-wisps of blue fire flew forwards and crashed into the balls of life-force, causing thousands of mini explosions on impact. The ribbons cut straight through the roses, but the fire ended up burning the ribbons to smithereens.

"We're not going to accomplish anything unless we fight them one-on-one." Shiro said, looking at her friend for her reaction. Koto nodded, running a hand through her dark hair. She grabbed at some kunai in her pockets and swiftly flicked them at Riku.

"_Fire Style: Phoenix flower jutsu!" _

Multiple balls of fire flew from Koto's mouth and instantly started melting the metal of the kunai.

Riku jumped away from the area that the flaming metal was landing in. Vaskar jumped in the opposite direction.

"Now!" Koto mumbled to Shiro. She quickly summoned two swords into her hands from a scroll and dashed towards Riku, attempting to cut her head off. That was unfortunately blocked by Riku's kunai though.

Shiro followed her friend's lead and rushed at Vaskar whilst pulling on a pair of leather gloves with three blackened metal blades between the fingers. She tried to stab him in the chest but he jumped back. He tried to punch her but she slapped his hand away. He attempted to kick her in the face but she grabbed his ankle just before he could touch her and chucked him through the air. Shiro chased after him, forming a hand sign for a Genjutsu.

Riku attacked Koto with a roundhouse kick aimed at her head, but Koto responded by dropping her body to the ground and using a sweep kick to try to knock Riku off her feet. Riku used a back flip which simultaneously made her avoid Koto's kick and made her kick Koto into the air. Riku followed up by kicking Koto to the ground.

Shiro calmly watched as Vaskar dazedly dealt with her Silent Risen Genjutsu. He seemed to be taking it harder than most that succumbed to her Genjutsu but she couldn't blame him. This Genjutsu was created so that the victim would spent some quality time with the dead. Who wouldn't be a little shaken from this?

She didn't like the look of horror on the boy's face or the screams but whatever works, right? But enough of feeling sorry about the enemy… it's time to get serious.

"_Ninja art: Ice palace!" _

She shot a beam of ice at Vaskar's feet. The frozen ground began sprouting tendrils of ice which wrapped around the boys body, all of which aimed themselves at vital organs. The frozen temperature and the sudden constriction forced Vaskar out of the illusionary graveyard and he looked around in confusion and exhaustion. Shiro slowly walked over to the boy and stood next to him. She turned to watch Koto and Riku fight.

Riku charged up a Chidori and raced over to Koto. Koto smirked, "That'll never get me."

She grabbed a shuriken out of her pocket and threw it in front of her. The shuriken multiplied itself until Koto herself couldn't be seen. Riku cancelled her Chidori and formed another set of hand signs.

"_Fire Style: Grand fireball jutsu!" _

Riku blew fire from her mouth which transformed into a huge fire ball. The giant fireball flew forwards, into the path of the rain of shuriken and melted them on contact. The liquid metal dropped weakly into the ground. The fireball carried on it's path to where Koto was and caused an explosion that shook the earth.

When the dust cloud cleared, Koto was nowhere in sight. Riku looked around but couldn't find her, it's as if she vanished into thin air.

"_Fire Style: Dragon fire jutsu!" _

An inferno appeared a little way away, then a searing beam of fire shot from the inferno towards Riku before she could react, setting her ablaze. She shrieked and thrashed but there was nothing she could do. Among the dying flames, she dropped to the floor exhausted.

"Riku!" Vaskar cried.

Koto walked over to the flaming corpse, arms crossed with a huge smirk on her face. Koto picked Riku up and walked over to Shiro and Vaskar and dumped her next to the icy prison. Suddenly, Riku's head shot up, an amazed look graced her face.

"They're stronger than I expected." Riku smirked, Vaskar nodded tiredly in agreement.

"Now are you gonna tell us where Itachi is? You Akatsuki scum!" Koto growled, moving to stand next to Shiro.

"I have no idea of what your talking about," Riku said in a sing-song voice.

"We're not Akatsuki. In fact, we're after them!" Vaskar whined desperately.

"Liars! Aaarrgh! You're the ANBU, do something. They're lies are getting on my nerves!" Koto exclaimed grabbing at her hair, Shiro frowned at her friend and crossed her arms.

"Koto. If they say they're not Akatsuki then I believe them. Besides, she maybe wearing the cloak, but she isn't wearing the ring." She pointed to Riku's hands. Koto looked, then nodded dejectedly.

Koto started pacing, "So what do we do now? We wasted a good two hours, wasted our chakra, and for what! To catch two children that have nothing to do with the mysterious ninja outside Konoha or the Akatsuki."

"Actually…" Vaskar muttered under his breath.

"What is it, kid?" Koto asked.

Vaskar sighed but carried on speaking, "She's the mysterious ninja that the Hokage talked about. The reason why she was said to be a rouge ninja was because she hasn't been in Konoha for awhile."

"Well that's one problem sorted." Shiro stated happily.

"I'll tell the Hokage with a messenger bird." Koto said, walking away.

"Now all we have to worry about is the Akatsuki," Shiro mumbled under her breath.

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(A/N: Like it. Hate it. Let me know. Two new OC's will appear within the next two chapters so stay tuned. And by the way, there's a place for one more OC so get reviewing. Now!!! Or you die.) :P


	4. An Unlikely Alliance

(A/N: Finally done. I'm starting to get the hang of 3rd person so I'm happy. Maybe slightly upset that 1st is a lost cause on me but what ya gonna do, right? Anyway I worked as hard as I could to develop your characters a little more so I hope you guys don't mind, but if there's something you think I'm missing, don't be afraid to speak out and (if you want) murder my friends in cold blood... That'll teach me.)

Thank you for reviewing; RuTakasheryuu, Tsubaki Takara, Sauru Tsukiyumi Sanbi's Faeble and Hidan's Little Riku. It means alot to me.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar and the story, Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to ****Sanbi's Faeble and Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

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"Did you just say 'the Akatsuki'?" Vaskar asked.

Shiro turned to him, silently wondering why the boy would ask that question? "Yes, I did. Why?"

Vaskar turned his eyes away, an embarrassed look could be seen on his face. "Um… well, I was thinking maybe we could help… I mean, we're after the Akatsuki too 'cause Riku's been tracking them for a while now, and I was gonna help her."

"And so now you want to come with us, right?" Shiro stated, forming a hand sign that made the icy tendrils release their hold on the spiky haired boy. Her 'Ice palace' jutsu crashed to the ground.

"Yeah."

Riku quickly stood up, obviously less than pleased, and fixed Vaskar with a look that made him flinch. "Vaskar! What the heck are you doing? We can't join the enemy!" Riku shrieked, stumbling a bit from her injuries.

"Sure, why not?" Shiro said, ignoring Riku's outrage. "But I need to speak to Koto first. She get's really upset when decisions are made without her." Vaskar nodded. He looked at Riku with a desperate expression, but Riku narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Why are you letting us join you, anyway? It's not like you'll get anything out of it." Riku asked.

"You really wanna know?" Shiro replied, with a small smile on her lips. Riku nodded, looking at the blue-haired girl curiously.

Shiro looked at Vaskar… then hugged him! "W-what the-" Vaskar stuttered, blushing from embarrassment.

"It's because he's so cute!"

Riku raised her eyebrow and shook her head. _I'm glad I'm not him… _

Koto came back and stopped in her tracks when she saw Shiro squeezing the life out of the boy. "Oh great! I knew you'd act like this sooner or later the second we saw him!" She walked over until she stood in front of the two. "We need to go now Shiro, release him." Shiro grinned and released her hold on Vaskar. She didn't move away though.

Koto waited with her arms crossed for a second as she stared at the two, "…Well? Isn't there something we should be doing?" Shiro stared back at her friend with an iron resolve.

"They're coming with us Koto." Her tone made it known that there was no room for argument. Koto's eyebrow twitched.

"And what makes you so sure they are?"

The two girls stared at each other for well over a minute. Neither side was showing signs of weakness until Riku loudly cleared her throat, which caught both the passive and aggressive girl's attention.

"Look, Shiro was it? I don't really like your friend there, but I have to agree with her. We're off, come on Vaskar!" Riku made to grab Vaskar's wrist but the boy easily pulled his hand out of her reach. "Vaskar?" Vaskar couldn't meet her eyes.

"Sorry Riku, but I want us to work together. We're all after the same thing, right? Why don't we just help each other out?"

Riku looked furious, "What!!! You little traitor!"

"Hey, leave the kid alone. He's only saying what he thinks is right!" Koto growled. Her green eyes seemed to flash with malice as she glowered at the purple haired girl. Riku swiftly turned around to look at Koto and stomped over to her. Shiro immediately wrapped her arms around Vaskar and led him away.

"I think they agree, lets go."

Vaskar turned to look at her incredulously, "Shiro! They might get into a fight! We have to stop them!"

"Relax, they won't kill each other. Koto's smarter than that… I think." They heard a shriek, Vaskar gave Shiro a dirty look, "What!"

"Forget it… Where are we going then? How do we track the Akatsuki?" Shiro stopped moving and the smile she had on her face instantly disappeared. Vaskar stopped next to her and looked up at her with an eyebrow raised. "Something wrong?"

"Well, Koto and I have been searching for the Akatsuki for awhile now and we haven't had any leads…"

"Hey, Riku said she's been tracking them for awhile now. Do you think she might know?"

"Worth a try. Your so smart," Shiro smiled and ruffled Vaskar's hair, messing it up. "Come on, we need to stop those two from murdering each other."

"Are you sure that's a bad thing?" Vaskar muttered, trying to fix his hair. The two walked back to the flailing girls to see Riku pinning Koto to the ground. Riku was strangling Koto whilst Koto was kicking back with her legs. The two girls suddenly rolled over, with Koto above Riku, and punched her in the stomach. The purple haired girl growled and they rolled over again.

Vaskar and Shiro stared at the two in silence for awhile before Shiro burst out laughing. Riku and Koto looked at her with a look that said 'We-will-tear-out-your-spleen-if-you-don't-stop-laughing-within-the-next-five-seconds'.

When Shiro managed to finally stop laughing, she wiped tears from her eyes and frantically gasped for air. She looked at Vaskar by her side and he raised his eyebrow at her but she giggled nonetheless, once again ruffling his spiky hair.

"What's so funny?" Riku asked, standing up and dusting her shorts and Akatsuki cloak off. Koto stood up next and rolled her shoulders, plastering a perplexed look at her long time friend.

"Shiro, you've flipped." Koto said simply.

Shiro looked a bit hurt but her eyes flashed with amusement as she stared at her friend. "What's that supposed to mean Koto?"

Koto rolled her eyes but answered, "You've been round that kid too long," while pointing at Vaskar. To some extent… she was right.

"Well enough about my love for the cutie. What are we going to do about our little, big if you will, problem?" Shiro smirked.

"Okay, she's turning into you," Riku said, turning to Koto, "In a weird, creepy, demented kind of way." Koto tilted her head to the side then nodded solemnly.

"Anyway. I know a couple of people that can help us. But I don't actually know where they are… they could be in Kirigakure, village hidden in the mist, for all I know." Koto shrugged, she glanced at Riku to see her with her arms crossed and just generally not paying attention. Koto shook her head at her.

Riku turned to look back at Koto in time to see her shake her head and scowled at her. "Well where was the last place you saw them?"

"Suna. What's it to you?"

"Well, miss sunshine, did it ever occur to you that we could check with Suna's Kazekage and find out, in the reports the Kazekage has, where exactly they may be…?"

Koto scowled but didn't say anything, crossing her arms and turning away. Shiro smiled while saying, "Lay off her, she's only a Chunin."

"Oh, well that completely explains why she didn't come up with that… she's a lesser life-form." Koto snarled and lunged at Riku, resuming in the scuffle they were having before. Those two definitely don't like each other…

Shiro, once again, grabbed the silent boy next to her and dragged him off. "At least we know where were heading, right?" Vaskar nodded his head then suddenly stopped, which made Shiro turn to look at him. "What?"

"What about them? Shouldn't we wait for them?"

"Nope, they'll follow sooner or later." Shiro pulled Vaskar into the trees and they started tree jumping at a breakneck speed, with Shiro in front.

Koto looked around quickly, realizing that she was alone with Riku. She tore her hand away from Riku's throat and walked a small distance away before coming to a complete stop. Riku pulled herself away from the tree she had been pushed up against and watched the black-haired girl calmly.

"What's the matter? Run outta juice?" Riku asked, a sneer plastered on her face.

Koto lazily rolled her head to look at Riku, looking completely calm despite the insult she just received. "Says the person who had been held up against a tree just three seconds ago." Riku glared at Koto, but let her continue, "Shiro and the kid left already."

"Don't say that to his face too much or he'll use his favourite wind jutsu on you…" Koto looked at the purple haired girl with questioning eyes. "Don't ask…"

Koto gave Riku the 'once over' before asking, "Why don't we get along?" Riku shrugged, "Well, do you wanna try?"

"Whatever." Koto nodded and stretched out her hand to the girl and Riku took it. A strong alliance had just been formed…

"Let's catch up to Vaskar and that girl." Riku said, walking past Koto. Koto nodded and followed but grumbled.

"Okay, but call her that again and I'll murder you in cold blood then castrate your body and insides separately before putting you back together."

Riku froze in mid-step and turned slowly back to Koto with a cold look. "Bite me." Koto shrugged before walking past Riku. The two walked deeper into the forest, eventually lifting themselves into the trees and started tree jumping after the other two. Towards the village hidden in the sand…

* * *

I'll try and have the next chapter up by this friday, till then, see ya. And let me know what you think.


	5. Mitsukai & Hibiki

(A/N: I am so sorry for putting this chapter up a day late. I spent my whole week off with my friend playing games. But me being the cool author that I am, I wrote this in like… 3 days. Sorry if the grammar seems weirder than usual. Let me know where I'm going wrong okay? It would make me happy enough to sing… I won't try it though.)

Thank you for reviewing; RuTakasheryuu, Tsubaki Takara, Sauru Tsukiyumi Sanbi's Faeble and Hidan's Little Riku. It means alot to me.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar and the story, Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to TsubakiTakara and Mitsukai belongs to Jesus Brother Bob. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

Shiro and Vaskar landed on the ground just outside of the forest's edge. The sun had reached it's highest point in the sky, signaling it was around midday and was setting the desert beyond with a golden glow. Vaskar sat on the ground to rest and watched as Shiro paced the ground in front of him, muttering a few words under her breath.

The girl paced a few more minutes before giving a tired sigh and plopping herself next to Vaskar, who watched her with a wary look.

"What?" He asked.

She looked at him with a questioning glance but muttered a simple "nothing". The boy was obviously not convinced, but dropped the subject in favor of running his fingers through the sand at his legs.

Shiro sighed once again before watching the boy's fingers fidget. "I'm just curious about why you'd want to join us. You never really explained your reasons."

This made Vaskar frown, "What? You don't trust me?"

"No, no, it's not that." She immediately pulled the boy into a hug, "It's just that, the group we're after are a band of S-class criminals. I'd be feel guilty if you didn't at least know what we're up against."

They didn't say anything for a few seconds until Vaskar decided to ask, "Why do you care what happens to me… or us?"

Shiro raised her eyebrow, "What? Shouldn't I care about what happens to my friends?"

"Friends? We're friends already?"

"Yeah."

Shiro watched silently as Vaskar stopped playing with the sand. "Well. I decided to help Riku find them 'cause I like her. She's my friend. And that's what friends do, right? Besides, if I help take out the Akatsuki, then I could instantly go up a rank."

Shiro gave the boy a stern look and bit her lip. "It's not as simple as that Vaskar. And I don't want to see you get hurt. Is there anyway I can persuade you to go back to Konoha? I won't ask again."

"I won't quit until Riku does." Shiro nodded and stood up. She offered her hand for Vaskar to take, which he did, and hoisted him to his feet.

"Then I won't stop you." Shiro smiled at him and he gave a small smile back.

Riku and Koto suddenly burst from the trees and landed a small distance away from Vaskar and Shiro. Koto spotted the two first and nudged Riku in the side, which also drew her attention to the two. Koto ran over to Shiro and stopped in front of her, placing her hands onto her hips.

"What's going on?" Koto asked, looking from both Shiro to Vaskar. Riku reached the group a second later and stood next to Vaskar.

"Nothing. Just talking about what were going to do next." Shiro said, looking at Koto from the corner of her eyes.

"Riiight." Riku drawled out. "Anyway lets get going to Suna."

Riku grabbed Vaskar and pushed him forward further into the desert they were bordering. Koto looked at Shiro for a second, then began walking after the two, Shiro following behind silently.

After an hour or two, the group came across a canyon with a huge fissure in it. Vaskar stopped once he realized they were headed towards it.

"Why are we going into that canyon?" Vaskar asked. Only Riku stopped next to him. Koto just carried on walking whilst Shiro took a glance at him but carried on walking once she realized Riku would explain things to him.

"You've never been to Suna, have you?" Vaskar shook his head, "Aww, kid hasn't step foot outside Konoha yet. Need me to hold your hand?"

Vaskar scowled at the older girl, "No. What are you talking about? Is this Suna?" Riku just ignored the boy and followed after Koto and Shiro. Vaskar reluctantly followed after her and the others through the canyon.

Hundred upon hundreds of reddish-brown buildings were littered throughout the inside of the canyon. Most of which where built on top of solid sand and rock. And at the centre of it all sat the Kazekage building. The group headed straight for it, not even flinching when civilians gave them dirty looks. Well, Vaskar looked slightly uncomfortable whilst Riku seemed to revel in it, but Koto and Shiro didn't even seem phased by it.

Once they entered the Kazekage building, a Jounin escorted them straight to the door leading into the Hokage's study. Koto knocked on the door and opened it when she heard an "Enter" from the inside. The group stepped inside to see a man in the usual Suna uniform sitting behind a huge desk sorting through some documents and reports. A hat was worn over his head with a cloth attached to it, which served the purpose of covering the left side of the man's face. The man looked up at the group and stopped whatever he was doing with his work.

"Konoha shinobi? May I ask why you're here?" He asked.

"We need to know where a couple of Shinobi are. The last place I remember seeing them was here in Suna. We were hoping you could help us find them." Koto explained.

The man stood up and walked around the desk to stand directly in front of Koto. "Tell me their names and I might be able to help you."

"I think their names were, Hibiki and Mitsukai." The man raised an eyebrow crossed his arms and moved to lean against the desk. "Those two? Is this a joke? They're at the north ridge on lookout duty."

Riku looked slightly peeved. "Are you stupid or something?!" She snarled at Koto.

"Shut up. I told you I didn't know"

"Can we go now?" Shiro asked. She didn't even wait for a reply as she walked out the door, Vaskar following behind. Koto growled and pushed Riku out the door.

The four of them swiftly made their way across town, ignoring the staring civilians as best they could until Riku couldn't take it anymore and punched some random guy in the face. Later on, a rumour went around that the man Riku punched had lost an eye.

Eventually they arrived at the north ridge, a collection of rocks forming a slight mountain to the north of Suna. Two figures could be seen at the top, one was sitting down with her legs crossed, the other was standing next to her with his arms crossed. Both figures were facing away from the group.

Koto cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Mitsukai, Hibiki. Is that you up there?"

The girl, sitting down, turned around to look at Koto in response. She had long, curly black hair which reached her waist, violet eyes and she wore a black Lolita which made her look completely childish.

She muttered something to the older boy next to her and he turned around. He had spiky black hair tied back into a ponytail, hazel eyes and a scar above his left eyebrow. He wore a black shirt with a body warmer over the top, black track-suit bottoms and the usual shinobi boots.

"Koto. It's good to see you? What do you need this time?" He called out. Koto gestured for the two to come down from the ridge with her hand. They jumped down and easily landed directly in front of the group. Koto turned to Shiro, Riku and Vaskar first.

"Guys, this is Hibiki and his best friend Mitsukai. They helped me out a few times when I was assigned a mission here in Suna." Koto stated. Hibiki and Mitsukai nodded in a silent hello. "Hibiki, Mitsukai. This is my best friend Shiro." Koto pointed directly at Shiro, "That's her friend, Vaskar," She pointed at Vaskar next. "And that's his friend Riku who I don't like." She waved her hand in Riku's general direction.

"Stuff you, you snot-nosed brat!" Riku screeched, leaning towards Koto slightly. Koto snorted at the purple haired girl with a grin on her face, "I'm older than you."

"No your not! I'm 15."

"And I'm 16. Who's the snot-nosed brat now?"

Hibiki coughed loudly into his hand to get the arguing girls' attention. Riku crossed her arms furiously, muttering something about sacrifices, Koto and Jashin-sama. Koto turned to look at her other two friends with a smug look on her face.

"Is there a point to you searching for us, Koto?" He asked.

"Yes, there is. With your… abilities… we need your help… dealing with a group of S-rank criminals." Koto said.

Mitsukai stepped forward with a soft smile on her cute face, "We'll help you out with your problem, only if you help us out with ours first."

"Mitsukai" Hibiki said, warningly.

"What?! They can get the job done a lot faster than we could 'cause there's more of them then us. And if they do this for us, we'll have more free time to help them."

Hibiki crossed his arms again, obviously not liking what was going through his friends' head. Shiro waved her hand to get the teen's attention, "Just tell us what it is you want us to do and we'll do it."

Hibiki made a hand slide over his face and left it there for a second before he dropped it with a sigh. He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed a level-headed stare at Koto, "Alright, we need a problem in Kirigakure fixed. This person is the leader of a gang called the blue sharks. We need them crushed, but there's too many of them, Mitsukai and I can't handle them all. Will you?"

Koto looked at Shiro and Vaskar, deliberately ignoring Riku, then looked back at Hibiki. "Yeah. I think we'll need your help eventually so, we'll do it."

(A/N; Well, well, well. That's the fifth chapter completed. I wonder how our hunters will do against the blue sharks. Don't worry about Hibiki and Mitsukai though, they'll be back to stay in a couple of chapters.

If you wanna know what happens next, tune into the next episode of 'VS The Akatsuki'. Lol, I've always wanted to try that. Have a good week and I hope you had a great holiday like I did. I need one more OC so do us all a favour and review already. Later dudes.)


	6. Shane Part 1

I'm sorry for the late update guys but I've been hellova busy with college and a couple of things to do with my new router soooo... Anyway, I am still busy and only just managed to write this short chapter on the remainer of my friday. I'n other words, this chapter is extremely short so I've cut it into two parts. I guess Hibiki and Mitsukai will have to wait just a little bit longer, but look on the bright side, part two has a fight in it, so look forward to that. Anyway, I'm honestly not sure when I'll next be able to update but remain calm, be patient, have faith and you will be rewarded.

_There, _Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, I updated, so there's no need to maul me with your dog and cat. Let them sleep. ^.^ Thanks for reviewing anyway; Tsubaki Takara, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Jesus Brother Bob and RuTakasheryuu... even if it was 3-4 weeks ago.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar and the story. Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Jesus Brother Bob. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

Koto, Riku, Shiro and Vaskar dashed across the sandy desert at a sound-breaking pace. The wind whistled an eerie melody as sand was kicked up into the sky, easily creating various sand storms, sounding like music.

Riku glanced at Koto out of the corner of her eyes then turned away quickly. Koto caught the look, however, and stared at Riku.

"What?" Koto asked.

Riku looked back at Koto with a level gaze, "Just thinking about how much I don't like you…" Koto's eyes flashed dangerously and she was about to retort, but Shiro moved herself between the two and cut her off.

"That's enough out of you two. We've got things to do and we're coming up to the mist border." Sure enough, a line of tree's came into view and when they passed through, a clear view of the ocean was all they could see. The group stopped at the edge to catch their breaths.

"So where is the nearest dock?" Vaskar inquired, tilting his head slightly. The group simultaneously looked down the left side of the beach, then up the other side. "What now?"

Shiro placed her chin in one hand and crossed her arms in thought. After a minute or two she looked at her friends with a sceptical look. "I don't suppose any of you knows any water jutsu?" Koto, Riku and Vaskar shook their heads. "Damn."

Koto shook her head, "Why are we beating around the bush?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow.

Koto walked towards the waters edge, "Why are we wasting time looking for a boat that will probably break as soon as we step foot in it when we could just run straight there?" She placed a foot onto the water, then another. She turned to the three on land and crossed her arms with a confident smile on her lips.

Shiro shook her head, "Don't think I haven't already thought of that as a possibility but the thing-"

"What about Vaskar? Huh? He's just a kid. Did you maybe think that his chakra reserves aren't big enough to even get him half way there." Riku snarled. Koto looked directly at Vaskar, wearing a guilty look on her face. Vaskar smiled at her and shook his head.

"Well, how about we go as far as we can get, then we'll look for an island or something when he's suffering from chakra exhaustion." Koto suggested. Shiro and Riku looked shocked, Vaskar just looked terrified.

"Even for you Koto, that's just cruel." Shiro said.

"Have you got any bright ideas?"

Everyone was silent for a couple of seconds until Vaskar spoke up, "Maybe we could try it."

Shiro walked onto the water and stood next to Koto, "I guess we have no other choice," Shiro looked directly at Vaskar, "Tell me when you start to feel tired, okay?" The boy nodded.

"Let's just go already." Riku darted right past Shiro and Koto without a second thought. The two turned to look at her retreating back, then looked at each other. Shiro looked at Vaskar and gestured for him to go after Riku. Vaskar obeyed and rushed after the girl.

Koto muttered, "We'll just have to keep our eyes on him." She chased after Vaskar.

Shiro nodded and followed after Koto.

An hour had passed and so far, Vaskar seemed to enjoy the run across the ocean rather than seem worried. Riku seemed almost proud and Koto seemed impressed. Shiro wasn't convinced though. Another hour had passed and Vaskar still didn't show any signs of stopping. A third hour passed and still nothing. It was almost like he was…

Faking it.

Shiro looked at Vaskar. His eyes were tired and determined, his hair was damp with sweat and he was struggling to keep up with the group. At this rate, he could kill himself… Shiro was just glad she found out in time.

"Everyone stop moving." The group came to a complete stop.

They all turned to look at her expectantly. Shiro went to stand directly in front of Vaskar and looked closely at him. She could practically see how tired the boy was through his eyes.

"Vaskar, you said you'd tell me if you felt tired." The boy didn't reply. His focus seemed to be more on breathing then his surroundings.

Shiro sighed, running a hand through her hair. She looked back at Koto and Riku's expectant expressions for a second then turned back to Vaskar. She turned her back to him and knelt down. Vaskar looked surprised but nonetheless climbed onto the girl's back. Once Vaskar was securely fixed on, Shiro stood up and moved herself next to the other two girls.

"All set?" Riku asked.

"All set." Shiro replied.

Riku made a 'Tch' noise but started on running. Shiro and Koto, followed closely behind.

"Thanks Shiro…" The boy quietly whispered.

* * *

It was beginning to get quite dark when they finally came across a bit of land shrouded in mist. As soon as they touched solid ground, Koto made herself comfortable in a convenient tree that was placed nearby. Riku followed Koto and leaned against the trees' trunk. Shiro walked over to the tree and laid Vaskar against it, next to Riku. From the way the boy was breathing, Shiro guessed he was sleeping.

"How much farther until we get to Kiri?" Riku asked, before letting out a deep breath and resting her head against the tree. Shiro sat in between both Vaskar and Riku and let Vaskar's head drop onto her shoulder.

"We shouldn't be too far away. In fact, we should already be there by my calculations." Koto answered, looking out at the vast ocean.

Riku giggled to herself, "You can't be very smart then, can ya?"

Koto swiftly turned to look at the purple haired girl and glowered at her. "Oh I will end you…"

"I'd love to see you try."

Shiro spoke up "You two, stop already. Your in no condition to be fighting and you might wake up Vaskar." She glanced at Vaskar to see if he was still asleep. "We need to figure out where we are and what to do once we get to Kirigakure… it's getting late."

All three girls looked up at the sky simultaneously, noticing it was really getting dark. They didn't even notice the light diminish when they were running.

"I say we keep going. We're sitting ducks out here in the dark, and if we fall asleep, then this will be one mission we won't ever finish." Riku stated. She looked up into the tree straight at Koto, as if daring the girl to oppose her.

Koto shook her head at Riku's behaviour. "Whatever you idiot, I agree." Riku narrowed her eyes at Koto humorously. "But what about Vaskar, he's asleep. And Shiro is probably tired from carrying him."

Riku looked at the two besides her and shrugged one of her shoulders in a half shrug. "I'll carry him then you drama queen." Koto snarled but let it slide. She jumped out of the tree and landed next to Shiro.

"Are we going then?"

"…Don't move…" Shiro muttered.

Both Koto and Riku looked at Shiro like she'd grown a pair of horns on her head and bat wings on her back.

"We're being watched." Shiro whispered. Riku and Koto tensed and let their eyes roam around the area. There were ninja in the bushes, the trees, the water, and the occasional creative ninja who'd decided the earth would be a great hiding place. They were the most obvious of all.

"You don't think they're the blue sharks we're after, do you?" Riku asked, trying her best not to make it obvious that she knew.

"That would be my guess. What I'm curious about is how they knew we were coming…" Shiro said, slowly standing up.

Koto's cat-like eyes became more noticeable. "Wild guess… Let's just crush them. If we start now, we could probably be done in a couple of minutes."

"I agree, let's murder some weaklings…" Riku nodded, standing up.

"Wait, what about Vaskar?!" Shiro shrieked.

Koto smirked along with Riku, "He'll be fine."

Shiro sighed, knelt down in front of Vaskar and gently ruffled his hair. "Enjoy your sleep Vaskar, we'll be back. I promise…"

Shiro, Koto and Riku ran off for an area that wouldn't alert the enemy to Vaskar's position. Just as the three girls left, light blue trainers softly padded along the ground towards Vaskar's sleeping position at a leisurely pace. The person automatically rounded the tree to see Vaskar sleeping soundly…

* * *

Like I said... I'm busy with college coursework, I am **NOT **quitting this, so be patient and I'll see you when I see you. Ciao.

SBS


	7. Shane Part 2

Hey peeps, good at see ya! I'm finally done with part two. Soon we'll have all the characters together and I'll be able to stop the fillers. Isn't that great? I have to warn you though, in this chapter, something disgusting happens that made me laugh and feel sick at the same time. At least now you can brace yourselves, huh? Anyway, I'll leave you alone now. I'll have more sooner now that it's the holidays so sit back, relax, and enjoy part 2.

Thanks for reviewing; Tsubaki Takara, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble and Hidan's little Riku. I need more though, they keep me alive. ^.^

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Jesus Brother Bob. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

Three shadow clones, possessing Riku's exact image, appeared before her in a puff of smoke and took different battle stances.

"Now!" The original Riku shouted.

"_Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"_

"_Fire Style: Flaming Rose Jutsu!"_

"_Earth Style: Underworld Palace!"_

The small group of ninja Riku was facing were swallowed up inside the earth, which eventually took the form of a castle. Flaming roses soared straight through the air and into the castles windows which set the inside ablaze. The rouge ninja inside the castle shrieked and cried in pain as the whole castle began to fall apart from the blaze. Suddenly, a huge fire ball flew straight into the side of the castle and tore itself straight into the centre. A huge explosion shook the earth and the castle collapsed.

As the Riku shadow clones disappeared, she grinned, "Now that's a combination!"

A random rouge soared straight past Riku, right into the collapsed flaming castle. Riku stopped and stared for a second before holding her sides and bursting into laughter.

"I stand corrected. That was way better." The girl happily twirled around to look behind her at Koto to see her surrounded by flames. The ninja around her were trying to get past the flames but nothing they did was working.

"_Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!" _

A beam of searing hot fire shot from the flaming force field and launched a couple of the rouges into the same flaming heap that Riku had her attention on earlier.

Riku turned to look at Shiro in time to see her performing a summoning jutsu.

"_Summoning Jutsu: Reaper pack!"_

An army of what seemed to be undead wolves, clambered out of the ground. Some were complete skeletons whilst others had rotting flesh cover their bodies. It almost made Riku sick. Almost. The wolves attacked anything nearby, excluding Shiro, mostly biting, scratching and throwing. Shiro herself sent a couple of rouges flying with some well placed kicks. She accidentally sent a rouge flying in Riku's direction. Riku caught the rouge's wrist, spun around to increase the velocity, then flicked her wrist which sent the rouge over her head, landing in the roaring fire.

"Sorry about that Riku" Shiro shouted over as she expertly ducked under a rouges fist and launched the ninja high into the sky with a fist.

"No problem." Riku smiled as the rouge descended to the ground and crushed his skull on a rock. She giggled slightly, rouges die in the funniest ways.

She turned to a fallen rouge on the edge of consciousness and picked him up by the scruff of his clothes, "Where's your leader? Pick your answer carefully or you might just find yourself losing a couple of organs."

The rouge swallowed thickly and stuttered out the answer, "I don't know. All he said before he left was that he had to deal with something important and that he'd be back later." Riku sighed.

"Not bad. But not good either." She punched the rouge in the face, instantly knocking him out and dropped him onto the ground. "Well that was boring. I was hoping for a bit more from these guys, but they're weak just like the rest."

"You were expecting better from a group that we've never even heard of?" Koto stated as she watched one of Shiro's summons force a rogue to the ground and proceeded to feast on the still alive ninja's insides. Koto cringed.

"Not really, but I was hoping for a fight."

Koto frowned, "That was a fight."

"I don't call slaughter fests fights." Riku crossed her arms. "Anyway, I asked this weakling-" She kicked the downed rogue at her feet. "Where their leader was but he didn't know."

Shiro walked over, forming a hand sign to make her reaper pack disappear and sighed. "I forced a couple to talk aswell but none of them could give me a straight answer."

Riku grinned, "They were probably just scared… to death! Hahaahha."

Shiro rolled her eyes at the younger girl but otherwise ignored her. She indicated for Riku and Koto to follow her as she took off. The three darted back to the area that they'd left Vaskar at, only to find… nothing.

"What! Where is he?" Shiro asked, scoping the area frantically. "We left him here didn't we?"

Koto shrugged, "I think so."

Riku smirked, "Do us all a favour then and never think again".

"Oh don't start!" Shiro shrieked, turning to look at the younger two with a frustrated look. "We need to find him now. He might be hurt, or injured, or even captured!"

Riku and Koto looked at Shiro with surprised and shocked expressions respectively. "The hell? Are you serious?" Koto asked with a levelled stare.

Shiro ignored her friend and turned her back on her. "Vaskar! Are you here? Vaskar!"

"Who're you?" A voice called out.

The three girls turned around and looked up into the trees to see a boy, around Vaskar's height, sitting on a branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree. The boy had short, pale blue hair and pale blue eyes. He wore a white tank top, simple blue jeans that were folded at the bottom and light blue trainers. The most peculiar thing about him was the gold belt around his waist. The boy stared at them with an almost guarded expression.

"And why are you calling his name?" The boy asked, tilting his head slightly with a suspicious look on his face.

Riku crossed her arms annoyed. "What's it to you, kid?"

The boy narrowed his eyes. He jumped off of the branch he was sitting on and slowly walked towards the trio. "Answer the question, loser."

"Why you little-"

"Quiet Riku!" Shiro whispered. Shiro watched as the boy stopped a few paces away and answered, "My name is Shiro. Shiro Shinigami. That's Koto Toyotomi and Riku Tsukiyomi. We're friends of Vaskar's. Do you know where he is?"

The boy crossed his arms, "Yeah, I know where he is." The boy took on a thoughtful expression, "Your friends of his? How comes he's never mentioned you before?"

"We only met today," Koto stated.

"Do you think you could take us to him?" Shiro asked. The boy nodded and walked off in a certain direction. "Hey wait. What's your name?"

The boy stopped and looked back at the girls, "My name is Shane. Now hurry up, I'm getting bored."

* * *

Did that undead wolf make you laugh as much as I did or did it make you wanna hurl? Let me know guys.

Ciao.

SBS

* * *

Okay, so there wasn't that much fighting, I lied, but I tried my best with this... Maybe I fail at fights... oh well, I'll try better next time.


	8. Of Rouges and their Leaders

Hey peeps, me again and I'm finally done with this chapter (even if it is a bit late ^.^). I have to say though, this is one of my best chapters yet. If there was a hall of fame for chapters, this chapter would be rockin' it at the top. Lol. Anyway I'll shut up now, I have other matters that need my attention. And DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!! Us writers need love too! -.-

Thanks for reviewing; Tsubaki Takara, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble and Riku-sia (You changed your pen-name?). I need more though, otherwise the Naruto world will be trapped in an eternal Tsukuyomi. ^.^

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Hidan's little Riku, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Jesus Brother Bob. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

The group walked in silence through the forest after Shane. The boy hadn't said a single word since they'd started walking which was making Koto slightly suspicious. For starters, what was a kid doing in a place like this? At night. Not to mention the rouges they'd just faced made staying in this place questionable.

The more Koto thought about it, the more she didn't trust this kid. She looked besides herself to see Shiro also lost in her own thoughts. No doubt thinking along the same lines. Koto looked past Shiro to see Riku skipping along happily. Koto blanched at that. Now that she thought about it, Riku had been acting a little strange since they'd fought those rouges, and she'd been acting even stranger since this kid had found them. It's almost like she was happy.

Koto shook her head. It was enough that she was suspicious of the kid. And anyway, it was about time she'd found out if he was legit or not.

She walked ahead of Shiro and Riku until she was next to the kid, then adjusted her walking speed to match his. If the boy noticed she was there, he made no sign of caring.

"How do you know Vaskar?" She asked, keeping her tone light and casual.

She watched the boy's eyes slowly turn to look at her before refocusing on his surroundings. "We're friends, that's all."

Koto narrowed her eyes, Vaskar had never mentioned this kid. Although the boy mentioned the same thing about them earlier, not to mention the fact that they'd only met each other today too so that was a pretty legit answer.

"How old are you?" Koto asked.

"Ten." Vaskar's age. He's ten and he's walking around at this time. Friend or no friend of Vaskar's, that is definitely strange.

"What are you doing in a place like this? At this time of night?" Okay, that question was going a little too far, but maybe she could get away with it.

"I had something important to take care of. What are you? My mom?" Maybe not.

"How did you know where to find us?"

"I didn't." Okay, that one was definitely a lie. He was waiting for them in the exact area they'd left Vaskar in. Not to mention he knew where Vaskar was in the first place so that raised some questions. It's almost like he had been waiting for them.

It's official, there is something up with this kid. Koto stopped walking, letting the boy get ahead of her. She only started walking again when Shiro and Riku caught up to her.

"Guy's, something's up with this kid." Koto whispered, looking mostly at Shiro.

"What did he say?" Shiro asked, holding her arms over her stomach.

"Not much. All he said was that he had something important to take care of."

Shiro looked at Koto with a dubious expression on her face. "So… what does that mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Riku stated, with a small smile on her face. "He's the rouges leader." Both Shiro and Koto stopped dead in their tracks.

He's the rouge leader. That would explain a couple of things but not why he's helping them find Vaskar.

"How can you be so sure?" Shiro questioned, glancing at Koto for a second before looking back at Riku. Riku stopped and spun herself around to face the two girls. The dark haired girl happily held the back of her hand to her friends as she counted off her fingers.

"We'll for starters, when I asked a rouge about their leader, he said that the leader had something important to take care of. Add that to what he told you earlier and you've got yourself a suspicious little boy. Not to mention the fact that he's wondering around, alone, at night, acting perfectly calm like he owns the place. Which he probably does. I mean just look at the way he spoke to us earlier, I highly doubt it but it seems like he has the power to back-up his words. And let's not forget-"

"Okay! We get it. He's bad, we're good, he's the enemy. Jeez." Koto interrupted, rolling her eyes. "But supposing you are right about this, what do we do now? We're following him into what could be a trap and we still don't know where Vaskar is."

Shiro sighed, "Whatever the situation, for now, we have to…no, need to trust him or we might just never see Vaskar again." She started walking again in the direction the boy had disappeared in. "And that's not something I'm willing to risk…"

"Besides… It's three on one." Riku stated, following after Shiro. Koto placed her hands on her hips for a second before letting them drop back to her sides and followed the other two girls.

The three girls soon came upon a clearing and stopped, looking around. There wasn't really much around except for a couple of rouges in the trees around the clearing a couple of streams running the perimeter and a lone tree in the middle. Shane sat in this tree alone, looking bored out of his mind but at the base was…

"Vaskar!" Shiro called, which automatically drew Shane, Vaskar and the rouges attention. Many of the rouges began chattering loudly and muttering obscenities, Shane was obviously annoyed and Vaskar just looked plain confused… and tired.

The spiky haired boy at the base of the tree looked up to see Shane and brightened immediately. "Hi Shane!" Shane rolled his eyes in response.

"Shut up!" He shouted. Immediately, all of the rouges quietened down to a dull whisper and Shane crossed his arms. "Be gone!" With that said, all of the rouges disappeared among the shadows of the forest.

Vaskar stood up, yawning as he did so, and turned around to fully face Shane up in the tree. "Shane, what are you doing here in the mist?"

The boy above jumped from the branch he had been sitting on and landed in front of Vaskar. "You can't be that stupid, can you?"

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked as she walked over and placed a firm hand on Vaskar's shoulder, pulling him against her slightly.

"I was looking for you." Shane replied, completely ignoring Shiro. Vaskar looked at his friend questioningly and Shane sighed. "I used my influence on the rouges to find you."

"Why?" Koto asked as both she and Riku walked over, narrowing her eyes at the cyan-haired boy. At that, Shane instantly fell silent and crossed his arms. He mumbled out something but the girls and Vaskar couldn't hear.

"What was that? We didn't hear what you said." Koto said, leaning towards Shane slightly.

"I said it's 'cause were friends!" He shouted, surprising the four.

Vaskar grinned, "Shane, come with us." Shane looked at Vaskar like he was crazy, or stupid. One of the two. It looked like he was about to argue the subject but stopped himself.

"Where are you going?"

Riku placed her hands on her hips in an annoyed manner. This was getting boring and annoying at the same time. "We're going to fight a group of S-class ninja known as the Akatsuki. Okay. So if your weak, then I'd advise you to back off. Get it, got it, good. Let's go!" Riku turned around and started walking, expecting the rest of the group to follow.

"So what's Vaskar doing with you then?"

Riku's eye twitched and she slowly turned around. She glared at Shane and he glared back, placing his hands in his jeans pockets.

"Say what?" She hissed. She took a threatening step forwards, but the boy didn't look phased. As for Vaskar, Shiro and Koto; they all took a couple of steps out of the way.

"I said, 'What's Vaskar doing with you then?' Are you deaf or just plain stupid?" He growled. Riku marched towards him until her face was less than an inch away from his.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass?" She spat.

A scowl crossed Shane's face as he replied, "Touch me… and you die."

They stayed like that for a whole minute, neither one moving an inch until Riku snorted and walked off, muttering under her breath. Vaskar released a sigh he didn't even know he was holding, Shiro quirked a brow and Koto simply looked bored with the situation.

"Alrighty-then let's go." Koto said, faking the happy tone in her voice. Shiro glanced at her friend for a second before shrugging and following after Riku. She stopped and glanced back at Shane and Vaskar, seemingly wanting to say something but shook her head and continued on without another word. Koto followed after her friend and began chattering animatedly about the bad choices clans usually make with their young.

Shane and Vaskar looked at each other for a second. Vaskar suddenly broke out into a grin whilst Shane scowled. "You guys are chasing S-class ninja around?" Shane stated more than asked.

"Yup!" Vaskar exclaimed.

"Your even dumber than you look." Shane smirked at that, "Not to mention your still weak."

"Shane! Don't say that in front of them! The last thing I need is for them to worry about me or to leave me behind." Vaskar cried.

"Just stay on guard… Where are we going, anyway?" Shane asked, as both he and Vaskar started walking after the others.

"I think their names were Mitsukai and Hibiki…" Vaskar replied.


	9. Together at last

To tell you the truth, I was getting sick and tired of all the short chapters I've put out lately so I tried to make this as long as I could. The structure is a bit messed up because I rushed a bit of it towards the end, but I wanted to include a sense of panic in there anyway so whatever works, right? Oh and the end of this chapter should give you guys a bit of what you've been waiting for. (I just hope the next chapter won't be as bad as this one). But otherwise enjoy, and I hope you guys had a great easter holiday. Or whatever holiday it is for you guys… If you even had a holiday… -.- That was bad…

Thanks for reviewing; Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Tsubaki Takara, RuTakasheryuu and Riku-sia.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Riku-sia, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Yumi loves the darkness. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

The group stood in silence in the middle of Kirigakure. The mist village was shrouded in the famous hidden mist technique so not much could be seen. The only sound that could be heard in village was the squawk of stray crows, and the scratching of the occasional hungry rodent looking for a meal on top of a house. Ok, that's a bit creepy…

Riku stood with her hands behind her head, leaning against the side of a random small house. She barely listened as Shiro droned on about where they should spend the night. Everyone, baring Shiro and Vaskar, was indifferent to finding a place to sleep. Mostly because the mist village was known for it's nightly murders and robberies. It was a widely known fact among the worlds ninja that it was safer to sleep in the woodlands than in the village itself… but why tell those two that…

Riku smiled to herself knowingly. It would give her a chance to assess the power of those who wished to stay in the village for the night. If they survived until morning, then they were worthy of this mission they had given to themselves. If not however…

Riku giggled suddenly, alerting the others' attention. Shiro stopped her rant, clearly irritated, and placed her hands on her hips. "Something wrong Riku?" Vaskar also seemed a bit irritated. But that could easily be put down to being a bit tired. Both Shane and Koto on the other hand seemed to be smirking at her somewhat. What gives, they act like Shiro's the leader or something.

She smiled sweetly at the self proclaimed leader. "Nothing wrong here Shiro. I was just wondering why whoever wanted to stay in the village could stay in the village and whoever wanted to sleep elsewhere couldn't."

Koto sneered at the other girl, "You idiot, she explained that already. I think you must be missing something in that thing you call a head!"

Riku lazily glared at Koto, "I'll kill you in your sleep…" That apparently, caught both Shiro and Koto off guard. But at least it got her hidden message across.

Shiro quirked an eyebrow at the girl, but otherwise ignored what she said. She turned to look at both Vaskar and Shane who were both sitting on the roof of another small house nearby.

"What do you two think?"

Vaskar shifted uncomfortably for a second before answering, "I wanna sleep indoors." Shane jumped off the house, landed on the ground and walked away, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Outside." He responded, leaving no room for argument as he left. "I'll find you guys in the morning."

Vaskar sadly reached a hand out to his retreating friend and opened his mouth to say something but he soon realised the cyan-haired boy probably wouldn't hear him anymore anyway, so he left it. Shiro looked curiously at Vaskar for a second, but didn't comment.

Riku followed Shane's example and left for the forest outskirts in silence, not looking back. Koto silently watched Riku leave before turning to Shiro and Vaskar. "What now, Shiro?" Koto asked.

"Why me?" Shiro pouted playfully, running a hand through Vaskar's hair to comfort him.

Koto played along, "'Cause you're the ANBU shinobi in our little group. I'm not sure, but I think you've got the highest rank out of all of us." The Genin kid next to Shiro gasped, eyes wide, and pointed a finger in Shiro's direction.

"Y-you're ANBU rank!" Shiro raised an eyebrow at the boy but nodded nonetheless. "S-so, when we met… were you…were you holding back?"

Shiro paused. The boy's question was curious. Curious in the sense that if she said the wrong thing, then she might upset him. But she didn't want to lie either. Friendships break easily because there is no foundation; in this case, trust. Or in most cases for that matter. Question is… how could she get out of this one?

Koto took that as her queue to step in. "Vaskar, kiddo, aren't you tired? We really need to find someplace to stay." It took only a second for this to sink in, but…

Shiro blinked. The boy was snoozing against her shoulder. "What the hell!!!" Koto cried, gesturing to Vaskar. Shiro blinked again then started laughing. When she'd finished, she picked the boy up.

"Come on Koto, we'll get a room in that hotel over there." She stated, walking deeper into the village. Koto sighed but followed. She needed sleep too, anyway.

* * *

Although it was pretty early in the morning, no light could get through the thick blanket of mist constantly swirling around the mist village. Villagers say it has something to do with the fact that they are constantly surrounded by water. But the ninja know the truth…

Shane slowly opened his eyes and let them adjust to the light… or lack there of. The undergrowth he was surrounded in seemed to have a greyish texture to it. The first thing he noticed, was that he had decided to sleep in the forest's canopy. He gathered this from the branch he was sitting on and the leaves that were gently brushing against his cheeks.

The cyan-haired boy wrinkled his nose in disgust at the second thing he noticed. Just opposite of him was the purple haired girl, snoring her head off like there was no tomorrow. How did she find him here anyway? And more importantly, why did she decide that opposite him was the best place to sleep? This forest was definitely bigger than the both of them. He rolled his eyes. No need to get himself worked up over nothing.

He jumped down from his tree, landing with a soft thud on the ground and walked over to the base of her tree. He stared up at her for a few seconds in silence before a smirk slowly spread across his face. He focused his chakra until it had covered his entire body like a bubble of smog. He split apart this smog bubble until there was nothing but balls of chakra around him the size of his fist. He concentrated, the words thin and sharp ran through his mind subconsciously as the blobs began to take on a more advanced shape.

Finally, the blobs were now more or less in the form of blades. Daggers to be precise as the blades were too short to be of sword resemblance. Once he was finished, Shane's smirk grew tenfold.

"_Blades art: 1000 daggers!"_

He immediately fired all of these chakra daggers at the tree's base, each dagger causing a noticeable amount of damage, and eventually…

* * *

Riku's first thought when she woke up, was along the lines of, 'Why is the tree shaking?' The disorientated girl looked around until she spotted Shane staring calmly at her from the bottom of her tree.

Just as the tree began to tip itself over, Riku shouted, "Oh my god!!! You did this!!!"

"See you later…" He smirked, walking in the opposite direction, hands in his pockets.

It wasn't the common wild bird that woke everyone in the mist that morning. It was Riku.

"Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!!!"

* * *

Koto jerked awake as a scream echoed through her mind. She sat up and looked around. She appeared to be in a shabby hotel room with three beds. She, herself, was settled in the bed closest to the window. Vaskar was in the next bed over, face buried in his pillow. He could kill himself like that. And in the last bed, the sheets were neatly done and no one was occupying it. Koto didn't worry herself over it though, she knew Shiro was an early riser through and through. Koto got out of bed and trudged straight into the bathroom, bringing a towel with her.

When she got out, she was fairly surprised to see Vaskar waiting outside the bathroom door, towel in hand, and Shiro making the beds. She shrugged and moved aside so the boy could enter then went straight to her bed to get her clothes. She silently noted that her clothes were clean and folded neatly on her bed. She looked questioningly at Shiro. Shiro glanced at Koto out of the corner of her eyes as she gathered Vaskar's coat and trousers.

"I took them to get them washed." She stated, walking out the door with Vaskar's clothes. Koto shrugged and put on her green shirt and her black shorts and went to get herself something to eat in the kitchen. When she was finished, she grabbed her stuff and calmly waited by the door. Shiro came back (nearly swinging the door in Koto's face) and placed Vaskar's clothes on his bed, then also waited by the door. When the boy was finished in the bathroom, he put on his clothes on and stepped next to the two with a wide smile on his face.

"Ready to go?" Shiro asked. Both Vaskar and Koto nodded and they walked out the door with Shiro following. When they exited the building, Vaskar spotted Shane walking towards them with smirk on his face and ran over to him. Instantly questioning him about his devilish smirk.

"What now?" Koto asked.

"We wait for Riku." Shiro said, wiping some invisible dirt off of her white dress and crossed her arms. They didn't have to wait long, because Riku was bounding happily towards them. Okay, I lied. She was obviously furious, so Shiro immediately suggested they begin their journey back to Suna to find Mitsukai and Hibiki before any hostility broke out. And she couldn't say she was comfortable with the way both Riku and Shane were glaring at each other. It's as if the aggressiveness had shifted from Riku and Koto to Riku and Shane.

* * *

The five quickly left the hidden mist and headed straight for the hidden sand village. The journey was mostly in silence, save for both Koto and Vaskar's chattering and the stray ninja or two who'd decided getting their asses handed to them would be the highlight of their day. But otherwise they'd arrived at the sand without any problems.

They went straight to the north ridge (attracting even more attention than before along the way), only to find the area totally deserted.

"What gives? They never said anything about where we had to meet them, so you'd think they'd at least wait for us here." Koto grumbled, clearly not amused.

"Does it matter?" Shane said. Koto stared at him for a few seconds, unable to tell whether that was supposed to be an insult or something else.

"Why don't we just ask the guy that helped us last time?" Vaskar suggested. Just as he said this, a familiar figure walked over to the group, making themselves known instantly.

"Your that guy from before, aren't you?" Riku stated more than asked. The same man they'd spoken to before about Mitsukai and Hibiki stood in front of them. Hat, cloth, uniform and all.

"They said you might come here…" He muttered under his breath. "What?" Shiro asked. The man shook his head and took a couple of steps forward.

"Mitsukai and Hibiki asked me to say they've taken on a mission is Konoha and that you should rest here. We've made the necessary preparations-"

"Nah!" Riku interrupted, lazily waving a hand in the man's direction. "We'll find them ourselves. Come on you guys, let's get this over and done with!" She immediately dashed off in the direction of Konoha.

"Wait Riku!" Koto shouted, but Riku was long gone. "What the hell!?! Why the sudden enthusiasm!?"

Shiro, Vaskar and Shane shrugged. "I guess we have to follow her then?" Vaskar said, looking at Shiro and Shane. Shane rolled his eyes then shrugged. Shiro cracked a smile at that but nodded at Vaskar.

The four chased after Riku until they'd eventually lost her in a forest. With trees all around, there was no way to tell where she'd gone.

"Dammit, we lost her!" Koto shrieked, stamping a foot into the ground.

Shiro paused suddenly which made Koto and Vaskar curious. Koto was about to ask what the problem was but Shane stopped her.

"Don't interrupt her focus." He muttered to her. She gave him an odd look but he ignored it. Shiro suddenly darted off to the right. Before Koto could say anything, however, Shane dashed after her, followed by Vaskar and soon after, Koto herself.

It wasn't long before Shiro stopped at the edge of a path in the forest and crouched down behind some bushes. Vaskar crouched down besides Shiro, silently asking what's going on, Koto hid behind the trunk of a nearby tree and Shane ran up Koto's tree and hid among the various leaves and branches. Koto also spotted Riku in some bushes close by.

"Why are we hiding here?" Vaskar asked. Shiro put her finger to her lips and pointed further down the path.

Both Mitsukai and Hibiki could be seen down the path exchanging jutsu with a blue-fish guy in a black and red cloak. The guy had a huge sword that was wrapped in bandages.

"Who-?" Koto was interrupted before she could ask by a dark voice coming from behind them.

"Shiro… It's you…" Shiro, Vaskar, Koto and Shane turned around to see cold, red eyes staring back at them from the shadows of the trees.


	10. Let's begin

I don't know… This chapter is the best one I've written, but it's quite harsh… you'll see what I mean in a minute. Just promise me you won't hate me… Please!

Thanks for reviewing; Yumi loves the darkness, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Tsubaki Takara, RuTakasheryuu and Riku-sia.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Riku-sia, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Yumi loves the darkness. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

"Itachi…" Shiro whispered, his name rolling off her tongue over so softly as she stared at him. Shane jumped out of the tree as quietly as he could and edged his way over to Vaskar.

"I don't like him… He's dangerous." Shane muttered, glancing at Vaskar from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah. I kind of feel it too." Vaskar agreed, nodding his head slightly. Koto edged her way over to Shiro and stood besides her with an arm in front of her.

Itachi walked closer to the group and stopped a few metre's away. He seemed totally relaxed in his posture and the red of his Sharingan seemed to glow with a soft hue. "Shiro… It's been awhile… How is Sasuke?"

That hit Shiro like a blow to the gut. She gasped sharply and knelt over, beginning to cry. She started stuttering out stuff like, 'He was devastated.' and 'I can't tell him the truth!' Both Koto and Vaskar knelt next to her, trying to consult her, but she was no longer listening. Shane's defiant eyes glared at Itachi's cool ones.

"_Blades art: 1000 daggers!" _

Shane's specialized chakra daggers appeared and flew straight for the Uchiha, but the Uchiha made no move to counter this. When the blades made contact, Itachi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What!" Shane cried, he looked to his left to see Itachi standing right besides him. The Sharingan-user moved to punch the boy in stomach, but just before the punch could connect, Shane rose his arms up to defend himself. The punch sent Shane flying a few yards away, however...

"Damn… I think that punch could have killed me…" He grumbled, spitting some blood from his mouth. He shakily stood up, once again coming face-to-face with Itachi. 'He's fast!'

The Uchiha delivered a sweep kick which knocked the boy off his feet, then knocked him into the ground with a heel kick.

"Shane!" Vaskar shouted. He immediately got up from Shiro's side and ran straight for his friend.

"This will finish it…" Itachi stated, slowly raising a hand up. The hand formed a single hand sign.

"No!!!" Vaskar pumped his legs as hard as he could then leapt, also forming a hand sign in midair.

"_Clone Jutsu: Super Explosion!!!"_

* * *

The moment Shiro had recovered enough to think properly, she looked behind her to see Koto staring into the distance. She ran over to Koto and as soon as she reached the younger girl, a huge explosion ripped across the land. Threatening to throw both Koto and Shiro onto their backs.

"What was that!" Shiro shrieked, staring at the pillar of fire slowly rising into the sky. Koto turned to look at Shiro, angry tears threatening to fall from her emerald eyes.

"That bastard killed them!" Koto screamed, hands balling into fists.

"What!?" Shiro replied, not quite understanding what Koto said.

"That Uchiha bastard killed Shane and Vaskar!" Koto said, desperately trying to control her voice but failing miserably. Shiro turned to look at the scene to see Riku charging a Chidori in the bushes, Itachi standing in the middle of a huge crater a few feet away, Mitsukai and Hibiki still trading jutsu with the blue-sword guy… but no Vaskar or Shane.

'Stepping out of one mess and into another.' Shiro thought sadly, wiping her eyes.

Riku dashed from her hiding place, straight at the Uchiha. Itachi seemed to turn around in slow motion as Riku drew closer.

"_Chidori!"_

Once Riku was upon him, she smashed her Chidori into his chest. The impact caused a huge sphere of lightning to cover the whole entire area which obscured everything.

When both Itachi and Riku became visible once more, there was a huge gaping hole in the Uchiha's chest but he didn't fall. Instead he stood perfectly still, watching her. Riku frowned after a second, wondering why he was still alive. Suddenly a murder of crows appeared around them and 'Itachi' recovered the hole in his chest until there was no evidence he'd ever been hit.

Riku gasped. She placed a foot back and leaned back slightly but was stopped by something behind her. She turned to see yet another Itachi standing behind her.

"You fool…" He said, sending a quick jab to Riku's stomach. Riku grunted and staggered back into the first Itachi who kneed then punched her back into the second Itachi. _"Shadow clone: Haze!" _He muttered, as he punched Riku in her face, sending her towards the first, who gave her an uppercut, knocking her off her feet. He then quickly spun around and kicked her away. The second clone disappeared after it's last attack.

* * *

Mitsukai's eyes once again flashed in anger. He had resisted yet another one of her and her partners combination jutsu, and he was still going on strong as if he had just started fighting. This had been going on for quite awhile too. Not only had most of her chakra up and vanished on her, but most of her partners techniques were having absolutely no effect, given the type disadvantage to water. This guy, (Kisame did he say his name was?) was definitely no pushover. She'd learnt that the hard way.

"Hibiki." She said, jumping back from the offender with her two katana in hand. Her partner glanced at her for a second, once again turning his attention back onto the sword-wielding maniac.

"I know Mitsukai. Just focus, okay?" He murmured, also brandishing his two katana at the enemy. She sighed in frustration but muttered an incoherent 'okay'. She glanced to the side. A couple of yards away, she could see her opponent's partner, kicking some kid into the ground. Another kid (she'd seen him yesterday!) ran straight for the two and jumped. Suddenly, the partner of their enemy exploded and the two kids disappeared…

Mitsukai's eyes widened to huge proportions. These ninja were reckless, heartless monsters with dangerous jutsu. And here she was facing one, both her and her partner, tired and the guy hadn't even broken a sweat.

The guy dashed at them, sword in hand, and made to swipe at the two, but Hibiki blocked the attack with both his katana and held him off. "Now Mitsukai!" Hibiki called.

"Got it!" Mitsukai replied, flipping over Kisame's head and landed behind him. "See if you can survive this!"

"_Earth Style: Black Rose jutsu!" _

Large quantities of black petals flew from the girls hands and swirled around the water-user. Eventually all of the petals froze in place around the missing nin and impaled him. Kisame turned into a puddle of water.

"What!?!" Hibiki said, completely surprised.

"_Water Style: Explosive Water Shockwave!"_

"No!!!" Mitsukai screamed, looking wildly around her. A huge tidal wave entered her line of vision and headed straight for them. The ground shook violently as the tidal wave surged forward and crashed down onto the two ninja, swallowing everything in it's path.

* * *

"Grrr, I can't take it! He off'ed both Vaskar and Shane in a couple of moves, and now Riku's unconscious. How the hell can one guy be so strong?!" Koto screamed, hands pulling at her hair slightly.

Shiro stayed silent, watching something in the distance. "Koto, when I say to, jump as high as you can."

Koto looked at Shiro strangely, "What, why?"

"Now!" Koto jumped a couple of metres into the air and looked down, seeing a tidal wave just barely miss her feet and swallow the land. A water jutsu?! How could she not notice that earlier? And where was Shiro?

When Koto landed on the water, she immediately noticed Itachi a little way away silently watching her. She gritted her teeth together and clenched her fists. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, silently glaring at the Uchiha genius.

"It seems you harbour some ill-centred feelings of aggression towards me… And it leads me to wonder why…" He said, raising his head slightly.

"It's because you abandoned your best friend and your little brother. I can't forgive someone… who would leave their friends and family behind like that!" Koto gave Itachi a glare that almost made him lose his composure. Almost…

Itachi cocked his head to the side slightly, the cold stare ever-present on his face. "Are you sure it isn't something else?" Koto flinched in surprise.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!" Koto screamed. She rushed straight at him, suddenly being surrounded by a cloud of her chakra-enhanced ribbons.

She kicked him in the side of his head, then in the stomach, in the chin, in the chest and once again in the chin which launched him a foot into the air. She jumped after him before he could descend and kicked him in the face, the stomach and then the chin. This launched him to much greater heights. Koto back-flipped back down and landed on the water, executing a couple of hand signs.

"_Fire Style: Flying Dragon Jutsu!"_

The ribbons around her burst into flames and spiralled around her until she couldn't be seen anymore. The flaming spiral shot straight into the air towards Itachi, seemingly taking the form of an arrow of fire. She crashed straight into Itachi, taking the both of them higher into the air. She then shot straight down at unimaginable speeds and crashed into the water.

Koto suddenly opened her eyes and gasped. She saw Itachi still standing on the water, in the exact same place before her attack, without a scratch, watching her closely. Did that happen at all or was it…Genjutsu…?

"You Uchiha bastard! If I ever get my hands on you, I'll-"

"_Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes!"_

Koto's body suddenly froze. She could no longer move. She looked at her arms and legs and was shocked to see solid yokes imbedded in her limbs. How had they gotten there? She looked back at Itachi. Her eyes widened in alarm and fear once she saw he was making hand signs for a fire jutsu.

"_Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"_

Itachi took a deep breath and a blew out fire, which converged in on itself to create a giant fireball. The fire ball flew towards Koto and all she could do was utter a scream as the fireball exploded on impact.

* * *

Hibiki slowly rose above the surface of the water and looked around. All he could see was water, water and more water in every general direction. Where was Mitsukai? And where was the loser in the weird cloak?

Suddenly, ripples started to appear in the water a few metres away, and Hibiki watched closely. Within seconds, a head of blue hair rose from the water, followed by beady little eyes, the red and black cloak and eventually, the large sword, Samehada appeared.

Hibiki climbed onto the water and faced Kisame with a level headed look. "I guess I spoke too soon…"

"Here I go." Kisame said, already forming hand signs. Hibiki braced himself.

"_Water Style: Five Gluttonous Sharks!"_

Kisame placed a hand onto the body of water. Blue wisps of chakra spouted from each fingertip and formed into five vicious water sharks. The sharks circled under Hibiki as if they were waiting for something. He watched them for a bit, but once he realised they had no intention of attacking he ignored them, instead turning his focus back onto Kisame.

Kisame charged straight for Hibiki with his sword at the ready, but Hibiki blocked, with one of his Katana. Whilst blocking, he tried a swipe with his other Katana but Kisame angled his sword so that he was blocking both of the swords. The shark-man forced Hibiki back a couple of paces.

Hibiki placed his Katana in their holsters on his back and formed a couple of hand signs.

"_Fire Style: Dark Emulsifier!" _

A black arrow was created in Hibiki's hand and he threw it straight at Kisame. The Akatsuki member drew his sword up to block the arrow but as soon as the arrow made contact with the sword, it exploded in a blaze of black fire. Hibiki smirked slightly, watching as the explosion gave of a slight smokescreen.

Suddenly, a water shark flew straight from the smokescreen towards Hibiki who only had enough time to block. The shark crashed into him and sent him flying into the lake. The five sharks from before, noticed this and converged on him. First, one battered him viciously by head-butting him. Then another joined the first and swam past at high speeds, hitting him with it's fin. Another joined the first two and helped the first in head butting him. Another appeared and swiped him a couple of times with his tail before knocking him away. The final shark bit him with it's powerful jaws.

All sharks swam a sizeable distance way from him, creating a circle around him. The sharks converged on him in unison and crashed into him. Kisame laughed loudly as he saw a column of water lift into the air before settling.

"Your weak!" He exclaimed.

* * *

Shiro and Itachi both faced each other with similar expressions, neither one blinking. They sized each other up for a second, before Shiro spoke.

"Itachi, I don't want to fight you." Shiro stated, her eyes still watching for any sudden movements.

Itachi tiled his head to the side as he regarded her, "Neither do I, Shiro… but… you know this cannot be ignored." Shiro nodded sadly. She sighed as she formed a single hand sign. Itachi closed his eyes and quickly opened them again…

* * *

Itachi suddenly found himself at the old Uchiha estate, surrounded by dead bodies. He blinked again, now seeing his little brother, Sasuke, standing before him with a hateful expression in his eyes. Sasuke…

* * *

Shiro suddenly found herself an a huge platform, in a paper form of herself. She gasped, feeling a searing hot heat around her ankles slowly rise. She looked at her feet and watched in horror as a flame slowly consumed her legs, her body and arms. Eventually her head was consumed and all she could thing about was the pain…

* * *

Both the ninja came to their senses at the same time, Shiro breathing hard and looking tired, Itachi looking distraught and upset. Itachi sighed and swiped a hand through his hair, once again forming a hand sign and closing his eyes.

"I shall show you… the strength of my Sharingan!" He muttered.

"_Tsukuyomi!!!" _

Shiro found herself in a bright field, filled with lovely flowers and not a cloud in sight. What was truly peculiar about this place, however, was the red moon sitting in the sky…

"Relive pain and despair for the remainder of seventy-two hours…" Itachi's voice echoed.

In the distance she could see a body, with what seemed a spear imbedded in it's stomach.

Shiro gasped, "Vaskar!" Her eyes grew impossibly wide with horror and fear and she backed away. "No… It's a Genjutsu, it's not real…" She bumped into something huge, warm, wet and furry behind her. She slowly turned around to see a gigantic wolf, the size of a huge house, lying in a pool of it's own blood, watching her with it's lifeless eyes.

"Jin!" Mouth wide, she turned around and ran, only stopping when she found another body, and another, and another. "Aisteshai! Koto! Riku!" She ran in another direction, up a hill and when she got to the top, she froze…

She traipsed over to the body to see a kid, very similar in looks to Sasuke with clouded blue eyes, lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Hideo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

_

* * *

_

That was harsh… 'nuff said.

Please tell me what you think... even if you do hate me at this point in time... That was bad... -.-

Anyway, see you later.


	11. What do we do now?

Sorry this is late guys but I decided to take a week off. Gotta relax the genius inside me, ya know? Maybe writing the last chap was more mentally draining than I thought… Oh well ^^ Anyway, nothing particularly exciting in this chapter, it's just basically a regrouping thing, so feel free to skip… NOT!!! Keep Reading! DO AS I SAY!!!

By the way… I don't find Pedo-ism funny, nor was this meant to be an insult to the people who have suffered from such cases. I just naturally thought that that would be the conclusion Riku would come up with in that situation… Don't sue doods, I be broke! ^^

P.S. Now that I think about it, this chapter is very random... Meh...

Thanks for reviewing; Yumi loves the darkness, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Tsubaki Takara, RuTakasheryuu and Riku-sia.

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Riku-sia, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs to** **RuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Yumi loves the darkness. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

Spiky, white hair ever so cautiously rose from the ground. The hair was soon followed by a pair of black eyes which held a look of panic and pain. The eyes darted around the area, quickly looking for any signs of danger, but upon realizing there was none, they relaxed. Within moments, the spiky hair and black eyes turned out to be Vaskar's as his whole face appeared, followed by the rest of his body.

Vaskar was gently holding onto an unconscious Shane's arm who'd clearly been injured. Vaskar floated them both fully into the air until he was absolutely sure that neither he, nor his friend would get stuck in the ground. He solidified both himself and Shane before slowly floating back to the ground and carefully laid the unconscious boy onto the earth. He watched his friend for a couple of seconds to make sure he was alive, and once he had deduced that Shane was indeed breathing, he began to fully look around.

The ground was really just a muddy swamp now, as the lake had long since been absorbed by the earth, making it harder to walk. Whilst making sure Shane was still in his line of sight, Vaskar ran a few yards and came to a stop. He spotted Koto lying near a collapsed tree and rushed over to her, immediately noticing her injuries. He knelt down besides her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly a couple of times.

Vaskar frowned once he realised Koto wasn't waking up anytime soon. He poked her in her side. When no reaction was made, he cocked his head to the side before calling out her name.

"Koto, c'mon wake up." No reply, "Please…?" Still no reply.

He sighed and looked off into another direction, instantly spotting Riku. He rose an eyebrow, before looking between both Koto and Riku. He quickly stood up and grabbed both of Koto's hands, attempting to drag her over to Shane. He stumbled and fell onto his butt the first couple of tries, but he eventually managed to place her besides Shane. He dashed over to Riku and grabbed her under her armpits, dragging her over to the other two and laying her down on the other side of Shane, knowing of Riku and Koto's dislike of each other.

He went over to where he dragged Riku from and looked around from there. Nothing… Those guys didn't take the others, did they?

A slight movement caught his eye to the right and Vaskar turned around fully to see Hibiki leaning on Mitsukai, headed in his general direction. He ran over to the duo and stopped directly in front of them, giving them a curious look.

"What is it?" Mitsukai asked, slightly irritated. Vaskar looked slightly surprised but composed himself quickly.

"Um, nothing really. Just wanted to help." Hibiki just hooked his arm around Vaskar's shoulders and started walking, which in turn made Vaskar start walking. Mitsukai giggled at this.

Vaskar walked the two over to where Riku, Shane and Koto were and only let go of Hibiki once the teen set himself on the ground. Once Vaskar released him, Hibiki covered his face with a hand and sighed.

"What's the matter now?" Mitsukai said, slightly annoyed.

Without even looking at her, Hibiki replied, "Oh nothing, just that I lost to a fish, you know, the usual." Mitsukai rolled her eyes at that and placed a hand to the side of her head, shaking it slightly as if to test for a headache. "If I ever see him again, I'll show him what fire can really do to a fish."

Vaskar's eyes widened slightly but Hibiki nor Mitsukai noticed. "Tell us what happened then…" Mitsukai asked.

"Nothing much to tell. All I remember is getting mauled by the fish-guy's family. The rest is a blur." Hibiki replied.

Vaskar perked up a bit, "Hey on the way here, you didn't happen to see where Shiro was, did you?"

Hibiki shook his head, "No we didn't see her, but I remember seeing her fight that other guy in that direction." The teen pointed west from their direction and Vaskar stood up.

"I'll be back, I just gotta go find her." Mitsukai opened her mouth to protest, but Hibiki cut her off with a nod of his head. She scowled at her friend and he raised an eyebrow at her.

She sighed and stood up, "Fine, I'll come with you then." Vaskar watched her walk past him and turned to look at Hibiki, who shrugged back at him. Vaskar followed after her in silence.

It wasn't long before the two found Shiro lying unconscious on the ground. Vaskar stopped and stared at the downed girl, Mitsukai however moved herself besides Shiro and knelt down.

"I guess we found her. She's got no injuries though, so I dunno what the problem is." Mitsukai said, sitting down and crossing her arms with a perplexed look.

Vaskar literally got on his hands and knees and cautiously crawled over with a sad look on his face. "Is she dead?" Mitsukai's eyes widened comically and she twisted her head around to look at him.

"What the hell!?! Why would she be dead? I just said there were no injuries."

"I-I know… I was just bracing myself…" Mitsukai shook her head and turned herself back around. She looked closely at the blue haired girl and was surprised to see tears streaming from her closed eyes.

"She's been crying so I think she got Genjutsu'ed." She murmured. Vaskar cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What now then?"

"Didn't you want to take her back to the others?" Vaskar nodded. "Well then." Mitsukai threw one of Shiro's arms over her shoulders and hoisted her up. She beckoned for Vaskar to do the same and when he did, they started walking back the way they came.

* * *

Hibiki tilted his head slightly out of boredom as he watched over the teen girls and the kid. He tilted his head to the opposite side once he got a better look at one of the downed girls and crawled forward.

As he watched her rest, he began to think to himself… she was actually quite attractive now that he thought about it. How'd he never notice her beauty before?

Hibiki shook his head as a perverted grin spread over his face. Does it really matter now? He leaned over the girl, fingers twitching in anticipation, and let his eyes run over her body a couple of times as they glowed ominously. Do it now before anybody sees...

* * *

Shane groaned and sat up, immediately looking in Hibiki's direction to see him hastily scramble away from the girl. Shane looked at the horny teen suspiciously as he rubbed at a sore spot on the back of his head.

"What was you gonna do to Koto?" He inquired, still keeping his eyes on the teen.

Hibiki's grin spread, "Nothing your little pubescent mind needs to worry about…" Shane narrowed his eyes in response. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?!" Hibiki's eyes narrowed as his grin evolved into a smirk.

"If I told you what I was about to do… you'd probably be emotionally scarred for the next 5 years…" Shane moved himself farther away from the teen with an expression crossed between being confused and disturbed.

* * *

Riku opened her eyes and sat up. She first looked to her right to see Shane with a strange look on his face, then she looked directly in front of her to see the black-haired teen, known as Hibiki, grinning like a cat that got the cream. Riku frowned for a second before the worst possible thought popped into her head.

He's not a pedo is he!?!

Her eyes widened comically and she lunged for Shane. He didn't see it coming…

"Don't worry Shane, I'll protect you!!!"

"Ack! What the hell are you talking about?! Get off me!!"

"I'm okay with most forms of humiliation and mental scarring but this just takes the cake!!!"

"What!?! Release me!!!"

"When your safe from that monster!!!" Hibiki sat back and watched the mini scuffle with an eerie smile.

* * *

And then Koto woke up.

"Ugh… Why are you guys so loud?" Koto sat up and winced at the burning pain in her arm. She took a close look at the wound. It wasn't bad enough to scar, but what really hurt was the fact that shed been beaten with her own element. Her pride had been shattered.

Anyway, enough about that… what are these guys arguing about?

"Ah, I see the lady is awake…" Koto immediately frowned in confusion and turned to look at Hibiki who had a weird look in his eyes. She sweat dropped but otherwise ignored him. Shane managed to escape Riku's clutches and dashed over to Koto, stopping only when he was directly in front of her.

"Koto, this guy was gonna do something-ACK!!!" Shane was suddenly interrupted by Hibiki painfully tackling him to the ground. This in turn caused Riku to get worked up, considering she now thought Hibiki a pedo and attacked, crashing into the both of them and eliciting a small scuffle between the three.

"Wow, we're gone for five minutes and this is what you guys have reduced yourselves to? Im ashamed." A sweet child-like voice cheerfully said.

Koto wasn't surprised in the slightest to see Mitsukai behind her, but what did catch her surprise was Vaskar standing there, alive and well, with an unconscious Shiro. Didn't she watch him die?!? What happened to Shiro?!? And come to think of it, didn't Shane die too?!? How the hell did they survive?!? And what the hell do we do now!?!

So many questions, and Koto convinced herself that she'd find out the answers right here, right now. Even if she had to draw blood…

Well, okay. Maybe she wouldn't go that far… but she still wanted answers.

* * *

I think there were a couple of problems with this chapter… but I can't find them. If you've seen any please let me know, I BEG OF YOU!!! The mistakes make me look sloppy, unprofessional and ungenius-like. AND THAT'S NOT ALLOWED!!! -.-

I'm kidding, later.

P.S. Even though they've barely recovered, I thought I'd spring some more action in the next chapter so stay with me/us/them and hope I don't feel like another week off... Now that I think about it, my games are really addictive... Whatever...

Boy I can talk. -.-


	12. And the next step is

Once again, I'm sorry for the extremely late update. But you try getting a couple of new games AND deal with exams in the same week. Seriously, how do they expect me to concentrate!?! Anyway, I'm glad most of you have enjoyed the fic and the way your characters are portrayed so far. It makes me happy to know that your happy. But enough about me… ON WITH THE FIC!!!

Oh and RuTasheryuu, don't worry if your confused about where Koto stands. It will become crystal clear later on. *Giggles to self as eyes grow wide with excitement* I can already taste the FEAR!!! …. Sorry.

Thanks for reviewing; Yumi loves the darkness, Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Tsubaki Takara, RuTakasheryuu and Riku-sia.

**Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Vaskar, Shane and the story. Riku belongs to Riku-sia, Shiro belongs to Sauru Tsukiyomi Sanbi's Faeble, Koto belongs toRuTakasheryuu, Hibiki belongs to Tsubaki Takara and Mitsukai belongs to Yumi loves the darkness. Other OC's belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

Shiro woke up with an extreme headache and felt incredibly exhausted. It felt like she'd been stabbed 3,000 times in the head then left for dead at the bottom of the sea.

She sat up and looked around, spotting the rest of the group at a slight distance away from her. They looked like they were discussing something important. Shiro carefully climbed to her feet and stalked over to the others with a hand against her head.

"What I wanna know is how they knew where to find you. And why they were after you in the first place." Koto muttered, narrowing her eyes in thought. She stared at Hibiki who sat across from her and patiently waited for a response.

Hibiki, who was sitting next to Mitsukai, smiled back at his new-found interest with a coy smile. "Worrying about me over something as trivial as this? I'm touched." Koto raised an eyebrow at the older teen. Hibiki's expression suddenly turned serious. "According to Mitsukai and a couple of my other sources, they have a member whose mainly used for scouting, spying and information."

Riku shrugged from her place besides Vaskar. "So…What's that mean for us?"

"It means the guys we're after know about us, probably more than we know about them. And who knows, maybe they're watching us right now." Shane stated from the other side of Vaskar.

"I'm just surprised they didn't kill us when they had the chance." Mitsukai chirped in.

Shiro stepped into the conversation and everyone turned to look at her. "That's because Itachi would never do such a thing."

Riku gave Shiro an amused look. Koto, however, just looked plain annoyed. "Shiro, I'd appreciate it if you didn't spout random crap that's totally wrong." Koto said airily, absentmindedly waving a hand in Shiro's direction. Shiro frowned at her friend slightly but didn't comment.

"I have a question though…" Mitsukai said, slightly raising a hand. She turned to look directly at Koto and questioned, "Did you finish off that rouge leader like we asked? After-all, we only said we'd help you with your thing after you helped us with our thing."

Koto nodded her head to the younger girl, "Don't worry, the rouges won't be a problem anymore. The rouge leader however-"

"-Is sitting next to Vaskar." Riku interrupted, pointing directly at Shane.

"…" Mitsukai narrowed her eyes at Shane.

"…" Hibiki clenched his fists.

"…" Shane raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Catch him-" Mitsukai snarled.

"-Then kill him." Hibiki growled.

Hibiki leapt at Shane who barely managed to roll himself out of the way and into a standing position.

"The hell!?!" He said in surprise.

Mitsukai stood up, drew her swords and made to swipe at Shane but the boy back-flipped out of the way.

"Hey wait! What are you guys doing?!" Shiro shouted as she and the rest of the group stood up. "He's on our side!"

"For the last few weeks, those stupid rouges made each and every one of our missions hell and has tried to kill us on several occasions. Now it's time for revenge." Hibiki grunted, standing up, drawing his swords and pointing them at Shane.

Shane warily took a step back, watching the two. "Damn, how'd this happen?" He muttered to himself.

"Shane, run!!!" Vaskar shouted.

Shane turned around and dashed off with Mitsukai and Hibiki at his heels. Riku, Shiro, Vaskar and Koto followed at a delayed distance.

* * *

Mitsukai chucked her sword over Shane's head. Shane skidded to a stop as the sword imbedded itself in the ground just in front of him. He quickly turned around but was tripped up by Hibiki's foot and slammed into the ground. Shane quickly tilted his head to the side, barely avoiding a Katana impaling his head and scrambled to his feet.

"_Earth Style: Black Rose jutsu!"_

A hoard of black petals flew directly towards Shane. The boy raised his arms to defend himself as the billions of needle-like petals stabbed and cut at his body. The petals lifted him into the air and threw him to the ground.

Mitsukai rushed towards the downed boy with her katana at the ready and attempted to stab him in the chest. A split second before the blade could connect, Shane's chakra daggers appeared and blocked the attack. The blades pushed Mitsukai away and Shane struggled to stand.

Mitsukai stood besides Hibiki with her hands behind her back whilst Hibiki kept his eyes on Shane.

"Aaannd, gotcha!" Mitsukai squealed. A combination of roses and vines rose from the ground under Shane's feet and wrapped tightly around him, preventing any slight movement.

"Are you gonna finish him now Hibiki?" Mitsukai asked, seemingly far happier than earlier.

"Right now…" He agreed, nodding his head.

"Nooooo!" Vaskar suddenly crashed into Hibiki and knocked them both to the ground. Riku suddenly appeared in front of a surprised Mitsukai and threateningly aimed a Kunai at her throat with a grin.

Both Shiro and Koto ran over to Shane and hacked at the vines that bound him. Koto caught him before he could hit the ground.

Shiro swiftly walked over to the downed Hibiki and surprised Mitsukai and glared at them. "You guys have no right to attack Shane, much less attempt to kill him!"

"Hold on a second, we told you to take care of the leader. What are you doing travelling around with him?" Hibiki stated, gently prying Vaskar off of himself and standing up.

"Yeah, you promised us a dead leader." Mitsukai agreed, cautiously moving past Riku.

"No, what we promised, was to crush them. And that's what we did… Save the leader." Riku said, smirking to herself.

"That's not the point!" Mitsukai snapped. Riku rolled her eyes at the girl.

Koto walked over, carrying Shane in her arms and glared at Mitsukai. "The point is he willingly decided to join us. He's on our side now. So if you kill him… I'll kill you."

"Koto! What have I told you about making death threats!" Shiro asked, leaning forwards with a frown on her face.

Koto turned to look at Shiro and tilted her head to the side, "Not to make them unless absolutely necessary…"

"No, never!"

"Whatever." Mitsukai said, shrugging her shoulders.

"If my lady wishes it… then no harm shall befall the boy." Hibiki joked, crossing his arms over his chest and winked at Koto. Koto cringed but ignored him. She gently set Shane on the ground and tended to his injuries whilst Vaskar watched.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Vaskar asked, staring curiously at Shane.

"Moron…" Shane mumbled.

Koto couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "He'll be fine Vaskar." The spiky-haired boy nodded, took one more look at Shane, then walked over to Shiro who ruffled his hair.

Riku sighed dramatically and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm bored. What do we do now?"

Shiro spoke up, "Well, ideally in this situation, we'd wait for Shane to recover a bit, then we'd either look for Itachi and the other one-"

"-Kisame" Mitsukai cut in.

"Kisame. Or we'd find the nearest village and rest for awhile, then we'd look for them. They can't be that far away so we'd be okay in that respect."

Hibiki crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at everyone, one-by-one, with a look that dared defiance. "Let's carry on looking for those two. I want revenge." Shiro raised an eyebrow.

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"So soon?"

"Yeah, why?"

Shiro huffed in frustration and placed her hands against her head. "Because Shane needs to recover and we just got beaten by them."

Hibiki walked over to Shiro and explained, "Do you really think it's a good idea to let them get away? The longer we leave it, the harder it will be to find them again. We were lucky they found us this time. Besides, I think we only lost to them from a bad match-up."

"A bad match-up?" Shiro repeated.

"You know what I mean. Let's at least walk for 10 minutes, if we don't find them anytime before then, then we'll stop, okay?" Shiro glanced at Koto and Shane for a second before nodding her head at Hibiki.

"Fine. But no more then 10 minutes." Hibiki smirked back at her. Shiro turned to look at Koto and watched as Koto helped Shane stand. Vaskar walked over to Shiro's side and curiously looked up at her.

"Just start walking Vaskar, we'll stop somewhere soon." Shiro said, gently pushing Vaskar in a certain direction. Shane, Riku and Koto and Mitsukai followed after the two with Shane keeping a wary eye on Mitsukai.

Hibiki stood by himself for a bit, seemingly deep in thought with eyes clouded over. Suddenly his eyes cleared up and Hibiki gave a slight sneer.

"Should I have told them that those two losers are ten minutes that way…" He muttered to himself. He gently ran his fingers around his chin. "Nah, it's more fun this way. Heh heh, revenge is sweet."

* * *

Once again, I'm sorry for the lateness but I am in frikkin college here so... cut me some slack okay. Now then, hope you enjoyed this chapter, (even theough you probably didn't) and just wait for the next one. After this week I'll be done with my exams so... y'know. By the way, I think a lot of you will like the next chapter alot.

Later ^^

P.S. I hate exams but love games. So... I'll revise a little bit then, PUMP MY HEAD FULL OF GAMES!!!


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